Man accused of pulling out 3 of autistic 4-year-old’s teeth

A Montgomery County man has been charged with abuse after police say he ripped several teeth out of the mouth of an autistic 4-year-old boy.

The boy, identified only as “JN”, told investigators that Kernechel caused the injuries to his teeth.

The mother of a 4-year-old boy went to the Upper Perk Police Department in Pennsylvania “visibly upset” and carrying a plastic bag containing three teeth, bloodied and intact to the root, according to authorities.

Kernechel, 27, faces charges of aggravated and simple assault, endangering the welfare of a child, recklessly endangering another person and making false reports to law enforcement in connection with the alleged assault of his live-in girlfriend’s child at the residence where he once resided in the 200 block of Main Street.

A judge set Kernechel’s bail at $100,000 during his arraignment and forbade him from having contact with the mother and son.

Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman called the case “one of the most horrific cases of child abuse that we’ve seen in a very long time”, The (Pottstown) Mercury reported.

Those teeth, she reported, belonged to her 4-year-old son.

Lansdale defense attorney Patrick J. McMenamin Jr., who is representing Kernechel, commented, “Mr. Kernechel is unfortunately in a situation where an accident happened and he is now being charged with abusing a child, which absolutely did not occur”.

When questioned, Kernechel initially told detectives he didn’t know how the boy sustained the injuries but acknowledged he was alone with the child while his girlfriend went out with friends on July 18, according to the arrest affidavit.

When police went to talk to the autistic boy in August, the toddler told them Kernechel “hit and take them [his teeth] out.’ The childalso added the boyfriend ‘was not nice” to him.

The boy’s mother returned to the residence where they were staying and found the boy asleep on the floor of his room on top of dried blood with injuries that had received no treatment, the DA’s office says.

Although the boy was bleeding from his nose and mouth and crying, Kernechel said he put him back to bed and closed the door.

The mother, who Ferman said has cooperated with authorities, did not suspect that the child’s earlier injuries were the result of alleged child abuse.