Kiski Township couple charged with beating toddler, lying to police

A Kiski Township woman was arrested by township police, accused of spanking a 3-year-old girl so hard that red marks and swelling were still visible days after she was struck, according to police.

The woman’s boyfriend, who is the father of the child, also was arrested in connection with the incident for trying to cover for the woman by telling police he beat the child.

Taylor Rose McCormick, 27, of the 700 block of Jackson Road was charged on Wednesday with felony counts of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children as well as simple assault in connection with the Oct. 17 incident, according to township police. McCormick is not the child’s mother.

Kenneth Patrick Hall Jr., 24, of Route 66, Washington Township, was charged with a felony count of endangering the welfare of children and filing a false report.

The pair were arraigned Wednesday by District Judge James Andring, who set bond at $7,500 for each of them. Court documents do not indicate if they were able to post a bond to secure their release.

Preliminary hearings for McCormick and Hall are scheduled for Nov. 17 before Andring.

Police launched an investigation after being contacted by a supervisor with the Armstrong County Department of Children, Youth and Families, who was notified by the girl’s mother.

When the child’s mother was interviewed by police she told them her daughter was crying when she went to pick her up from Hall’s home on Oct. 17.

She said Hall told her he “smacked their daughter and left a mark,” according to a criminal complaint filed in support of the charges.

Hall told the girl’s mother that McCormick then put “frozen hot dogs on her backside” to try to reduce the swelling, according to the complaint.

The girl’s mother told police that, the following day, Hall’s sister called to inform her that the toddler revealed to her that McCormick “rubbed her wet underwear in her face” before beating her, the complaint said.

County CYS officials conducted a forensic interview during which the child said she was hit by McCormick, not her father.

She also was examined by a physician who said the injuries she suffered were caused by “repeated blows” and that they were “consistent with child abuse and would cause substantial pain and discomfort to the child.”

Photos of her injuries were supplied to police.

When police interviewed Hall, he repeatedly took blame for hurting the girl until they informed him that his daughter told forensic investigators that she was hit by McCormick.

Police then interviewed McCormick, who admitted to them that she hit the girl “one time” but said it was not because she wet her pants. She said she spanked the girl for “lying” about wetting her pants.