UPDATE: The Cook County Medical Examiner has confirmed the 3-year-old girl has passed this morning at Comer Children’s Hospital. Expect more charges after the holiday.
A man who is accused of binding and beating a child until she suffered serious brain trauma has been arrested, police said.
29-year-old Devan Loventa Allen was arrested overnight, Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. said.
Police with Lake County Sheriff’s Special Operations Unit located Allen’s grandfather who lives in Merrillville, and officers met with the man to inform him of Allen’s charges and warrant.
The grandfather agreed to help police, stating the man might be at his son’s Lynwood home, Martinez said. The Lake County Sheriff’s Department alerted Lynwood police, who checked the residence. Meanwhile, Lake County officers stayed with the grandfather, who called his son in Lynwood and confirmed the suspect was at the residence, Martinez said.
Allen surrendered to police without incident, and he is being held in Illinois, pending extradition to Lake County Jail.
“I am extremely proud of our Lake County Sheriff’s Special Operation Unit for their hard work and diligence, which led to the apprehension of this dangerous individual,” Martinez said.
On Thursday, charges were filed in Lake County Criminal Court against Allen and 28-year-old Tiarra Ashanti Renee Glenn, according to records from the Lake County prosecutor’s office. Glenn was arrested Thursday, with bail set at $80,000.
Allen was charged with battery resulting with serious injury to a person under 14 years old; neglect of a dependent resulting in serious injury; battery resulting in serious injury; battery resulting in injury to a person under 14 years old; neglect of a dependent resulting in injury; battery resulting in injury; battery on a person less than 14 years old and neglect of a dependent where the child is placed in a situation that endangers them.
Glenn was charged with battery resulting with serious injury to a person under 14 years old; neglect of a dependent resulting in serious injury; battery resulting in serious injury; battery resulting in injury to a person under 14 years old; neglect of a dependent resulting in injury; battery resulting in moderate injury; battery on a person less than 14 years old; and neglect of a dependent where the child is placed in a situation that endangers them.
According to Lake County court records, Gary police were called to investigate battery and neglect of a dependent from an incident in an apartment in the 300 block of Clark Road in Gary.
At 11:20 a.m. Tuesday, police were called to the residence after a child was reported to be unconscious and unresponsive.
A 3-year-old girl was found lying on a towel in the living room wearing only shorts, court records state. When asked if Glenn performed CPR on the child, she responded, “No, I think she is breathing.” The girl was found to be breathing but unconscious and unresponsive and was transported to Methodist Hospitals Northlake campus.
Glenn initially claimed that the child had been told to stand in a corner to discipline her for not eating her food, police said. Glenn told police the girl began crying hysterically because she did not want to go in the corner, and started to hyperventilate, defecated on herself and then became unresponsive.
Glenn said while the girl and Allen were in the bedroom, she was alerted by Allen of the girl’s condition and called 911.
On the way to the hospital, police told Glenn that the girl had bruising on her face and marks on her body that were immediately noticed by medics tending to her.
Doctors determined the girl had a life-threatening brain injury, and she was later airlifted to the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital. Doctors stated it appeared the damage was from lack of oxygen.
Officers spoke to medical staff, who said the child appeared to have been battered and abused based on bruises covering her body from head to toe, which were documented with photos.
Medical staff and police also noted a bite mark on the child’s abdomen, bruising in the shape of three fingers on her chest and belt marks on her legs, thighs and buttocks. There was also blood on her lips, redness around her neck, bruising on her feet, redness under her armpit and a bump or bruise on her forehead.
At the Chicago hospital, the girl was found to be in critical condition with traumatic brain injuries and she remained intubated and unresponsive. A CT scan showed she suffered acute hemorrhages and she was taken to the emergency room for a craniotomy.
The medical diagnosis was determined to be a result of child abuse that inflicted traumatic brain injury, brain swelling and bodily injury.
Police also interviewed Glenn’s 5-year-old child, who is the victim’s sister and also lives at the residence. The 5-year-old said she and her sister share a room, but her sister has to sleep on the floor because she doesn’t have a bed. She further said her sister is always in trouble and misbehaves.
The child said Allen would make the victim stand in the corner and sometimes do squats “when she is bad.”
The child said that her sister wasn’t doing anything wrong on Tuesday, but Allen made her stand in the corner and was forcing her to “make an ‘X’ on the corner.” Then Allen tied the girl’s hands behind her back, but she was able to get her hands loose.
At this point Allen tied the girl’s hands up again and forced her into the bathroom, turning off the lights and closing the door, police reported. The child said Allen beat the girl with a belt because she wouldn’t make an “X” on the wall.
The 5-year-old said at one point her sister was crying so loud that she went into her room, closed the door and put on a movie to watch.
The child further told police that her sister had soiled herself and passed out, at which time Glenn told the 5-year-old to put the fan on her sister. Then the child said they cleaned the whole house and her mom called police.
After speaking with police, Glenn gave a different account than she initially had told police, court records state.
Glenn, who is three months pregnant, said she lives at the apartment with her boyfriend, Allen, and her two children. Glenn said her 3-year-old daughter doesn’t listen and cries a lot and she lets Allen discipline her.
She said lately, the child had been spending most of her life in the corner.
She said one of the punishments, “making an ‘X’ in the corner,” referred to making the child spread her feet and hands out against the wall to form an “X,” and stay in the position for a long time.
Glenn alleged sometimes Allen would tape the girl’s hands together with electrical tape, or force her to stand with arms extended outward, and that sometimes they would tape objects to her hands and force her to stay in the position for an extended amount of time. Glenn also said sometimes they would blindfold the child and that she and other family members would whoop the child with a belt.
On Tuesday morning, Glenn said Allen was angry with the girl because she misbehaved the day before and would not eat all of her food. After breakfast, Allen made the girl stand in the corner of a closet for an hour.
Allen and Glenn then became frustrated because the girl was crying. The girl asked her mother to whoop her with the belt to get the punishment over with so she could sit down, stating she would prefer her mother beat her than Allen because he was stronger.
Glenn said she hit the girl with the belt at least six times, and after being disappointed the girl did not seem affected by being hit, she sent the child back into the closet corner.
The mother said she “couldn’t take the crying anymore” so she left the bedroom. Then Allen beat the girl again with a belt, and Glenn said she saw him carry the child into the living room because she was hyperventilating.
Allen had tied the girl’s hands behind her back and covered her eyes, nose and mouth with a black scarf, according to court records. He then exposed the girl’s mouth and forced her to drink water to stop her from hyperventilating.
However, the girl could not calm down enough to drink the water.
Allen then took the girl back into the closet and after she was not able to do what he wanted her to do on the wall, he began to strike her several more times, according to court records.
Then, Glenn heard a loud thump coming from the closet. Allen carried the girl into the living room. She was not wearing a shirt, her hands were still tied behind her back and she had urinated and defecated on herself.
She was limp and her eyes were open, staring into space, her mother said. After she was laid on a couch, she was described as gasping for air and unresponsive.
Glenn and Allen then changed the girl’s clothes, washed her up, cleaned the apartment and after 20 minutes passed, Glenn did a Google search of hyperventilation. The internet directed that she should call 911, so she called for an ambulance.
Glenn said the incident started about 8:20 a.m. and continued through 11 a.m., in which at no point in time did she say she told Allen to stop.
As of the documents filed Thursday, the 3-year-old girl was said to be in critical condition. Upcoming court hearings for the case have not yet been determined, online court records showed.
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