Brad Hunter Gerke, 39, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree assault, acknowledging he caused severe injuries to his fiancee’s 23-month-old daughter last year. He was sentenced to 40 years.
Gerke accepted a plea agreement that dismissed an additional count of first-degree assault, two counts of first-degree sodomy and a count of first-degree criminal abuse.
Gerke’s attorney, James Rhorer of the Department of Public Advocacy, said his client sought to avoid a trial on all counts and acknowledged injuring the toddler, but denied sodomizing her.
City police arrested Gerke on Oct. 5 after being asked to assist first responders regarding a 23-month-old girl who had been vomiting.
Gerke and Cynthia Orr had been living there together with Orr’s two children, according to court records.
A subsequent investigation resulted in the discovery of bruises all over the child’s body and allegations Gerke inflicted the injuries.
The child was taken to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University for treatment, and a Bowling Green Police Department arrest citation said the child was in “very critical condition.”
In court Rhorer said Gerke had been using methamphetamine in the time leading up to the child’s injuries, causing Gerke to stay awake for several days and hallucinate.
“Unfortunately, he saw the child as a threat and severely assaulted her from head to toe, basically,” Rhorer said.
First responders saw several visible injuries to the child’s body, including bruises on her face, upper chest and shoulders, wounds on the right side of her neck, broken blood vessels in her eyes and significant trauma to her genital and rectal area, court records show.
Medical experts informed police that the child’s injuries were life-threatening and included a lip laceration that required surgery, rectal prolapse, pancreatic disruption and serious injuries to the small intestine and abdomen.
“The child was in intensive care for an extended period of time and it was very touch-and-go as to whether the baby was going to live or not,” Rhorer said in court.
Gerke’s initial explanations for the child’s injuries made little sense to authorities, and a doctor at Vanderbilt said that Gerke’s explanations were “absolutely absurd,” his arrest citation said.
Rhorer said he went over the narrative of events leading to the criminal charges with Gerke, who did not want to see pictures of the injuries that had been provided to the defense by Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Chris Cohron.
Orr, 36, told police she suspected Gerke was abusing her daughter for about two months prior to his arrest.
Police arrested Orr on a charge of first-degree criminal abuse, alleging that she sought no medical assistance for her toddler despite being aware of her injuries.
Orr’s case is pending in Warren Circuit Court.