Police have charged a man with beating and duct taping a 3-year-old girl at his home outside Manassas.
Officers were called to the house in the 11200 block of Golden Leaf Drive on Tuesday night, where they found a girl who had been hit and bound in duct tape, Prince William County police spokeswoman Sharon Richardson said. The girl is not related to the suspect, police said.
An acquaintance of the man notified police of the alleged abuse.
Erik Guevara, 35, was charged with two counts of felony child abuse and two counts of domestic assault and battery, police said. Guevara, an illegal immigrant, is an acquaintance of the victim. It was not clear why the girl was at his home.
He was held on a $100,000 bond, partially because Guevara is in the country illegally, said Richardson.
Neighbors who live near the home said the Woodburn apartment complex is full of children.
“If there is a child predator in the neighborhood, this is probably where they would be,” said Justin Maines, who lives across the street from where the alleged abuse took place.
Maines said he has lived in his home for nearly a year.
He said he often sees police in the area during the winter, and saw even more in the neighborhood last summer.
Child abuse is reported every 10 seconds in the U.S., according to ChildHelp, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping victims of child abuse and neglect.
According to the organization at least four children die each day in the U.S. because of abuse or neglect.
Guevara will appear in court on Feb. 23.
Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.
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