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Oshkosh man charged with physically abusing girlfriend's child

Posted at 5:25 PM, Dec 04, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-05 13:58:58-05

An Oshkosh man was charged Monday for allegedly physically abusing his girlfriend's three-year-old child.

Robert Risch, 24, was charged with physical abuse of a child: repeated acts with high probability of great bodily harm and physical abuse of child: recklessly causing great bodily harm.

In the early morning hours of November 30, police were called to Aurora Medical Center in Oshkosh for a three-year-old girl with a skull fracture.

Investigators learned that Risch, the boyfriend of the child's mother, was watching her that night while her mother was at work. At first, Risch denied any kind of physical abuse, according to a criminal complaint.

However, after officers confronted Risch about the extent of the child's injuries, he admitted to slamming the child's head into the floor more than once to stop her from screaming on November 29, the criminal complaint said. 

Doctors found the child had multiple injuries, including skull fractures, brain bleeding, respiratory failure, jaw fractures and healing arm fractures, court documents said.

Risch admitted to shaking the girl "4, maybe 5 times in the past since February" to calm her down, the criminal complaint said.

Risch is being held on a $50,000 cash bond. He cannot have contact with any children under age 16 or the victim.

He will be back in court on December 11.