A Deltona man previously accused of putting a girl
into a hot oven now faces an aggravated child abuse charge for reportedly pouring boiling water on a toddler, Volusia County sheriff’s investigators said.
Volusia County sheriff’s spokesman Andrew Gant said the new case remains under active investigation and the subject of the accusation, Terry May, 47, has not been arrested or charged.
According to reports, daycare teachers saw the burn mark on the 3-year-old boy’s back and called investigators with the Department of Children and Families on Friday.
Around 10:26 p.m. on Friday, deputies responded to AdventHealth DeLand where they spoke with a DCF investigator. The deputy also saw the boy had a burn mark that ran across the right side of the child’s back, a report states.
When the deputy asked the child what happened, the child said “Terry burned me” and then kept quiet, investigators said.
THE DCF investigator told deputies that the child’s 54-year-old caretaker said she allowed May to take care of the child while she was at work but only when the boy didn’t attend daycare. The woman didn’t want daycare employees to notify DCF, deputies said.
DCF called the woman, who claimed the child got the mark by getting dragged on a trampoline, regarding the burn on the toddler, but she said she was at work and busy, a report said.
While on their way to the hospital, the DCF investigator asked the boy how he got hurt. The child said he was at May’s house when he accidentally urinated on the floor. The child said May got boiling water from the top of the stove and poured it on him, a report detailed.
The burn covered almost half of the child’s back, according to the report.
A doctor concluded that the burn mark on the child was two weeks old and was healing, authorities said.
When the DCF investigator asked the child to say more about the incident, he became quiet and scared, investigators said.
In the other reported incident of abuse, on Jan. 18, 2018, May was arrested for burning his 3-year-old daughter, records show. Deputies said a 3-year-old girl, suffered several burns after May put her into an oven, investigators said.
Court records show that May pleaded not guilty to child abuse Feb. 23, 2018, and prosecutors declared Aug. 1, 2018, they would not pursue the case against May.
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