Published: October 04, 2007 01:43 am            

Crase charged with child abuse

By Cass Rains

Staff Writer



A 24-year-old Enid man told police he hit 1-month-old Zachary Felber because the boy would not stop crying. The infant remains hospitalized with a fractured skull.

The confession was included in an affidavit presented when a felony child abuse charge was filed Wednesday against J.C. Crase. Crase, according to the affidavit, had given police several reasons for the boy’s injuries.

After a polygraph examination, Crase said he had not been telling the truth and he “backhanded” the boy because he would not stop crying, according to the affidavit.

Cheri Felber, the boy’s mother, said she left Zachary with Crase, her boyfriend, about 9:30 a.m. Sept. 25 before she went work. After picking him up from Crase’s, she said, Zachary was fussy and would cry until he fell asleep and would awake crying, according to the affidavit.

The next morning, she took Zachary to Integris Bass Baptist Health Center because he had been crying all night and possibly having seizures. The hospital contacted police because the boy was a possible victim of child abuse, according to the affidavit.

Police interviewed Felber at the hospital, and she said she received a text message from Crase saying the boy was screaming, and he did not know why, according to the affidavit.

Crase also told Felber his dog, a Labrador retriever, had run across the boy when he was on the couch.

During an interview with police, Felber changed stories about the boy’s injuries several times.

According to the affidavit, Chase said the boy had thrown his head backward and hit a door frame. Crase also he was holding the boy and spinning and Zachary struck his head on a door frame.

Following the polygraph, Crase said Zachary was strapped into a bouncy chair that was on the table and he backhanded the boy with his left hand on the left side of the boy’s head, the affidavit states.

Crase said he had struck Zachary “pretty hard,” and the boy fell off of the table while still seated in the chair. Crase told police after picking the boy up he immediately saw a bruise on the boy’s head.

According to the affidavit, Zachary suffered a depressed skull fracture to the left front of his skull and suffered a seizure before being transferred to the University of Oklaho-ma Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City, where he remains in critical condition.

Crase, who faces no more than life in prison, no less than a year in jail and a fine of $500 to $5,000, will be arraigned Friday in Garfield County District Court.

He is being held in lieu of $175,000 bond.

According to court records, Crase pleaded guilty in 2005 to a misdemeanor count of assault and battery, receiving a 90-day suspended sentence to run concurrent with a five-year deferred sentence for felony second-degree burglary.