Man charged with Aggravated Child Abuse

UMATILLA, FL  –  A man has been arrested after he admitted to placing a 10-year-old girl in adult entertainment straps and beating her with a wooden spatula as punishment.

According to an arrest affidavit, Christopher Paul McKeehan was upset Thursday that the child had left some pills out that a 2-year-old got into as well as lying about her report card.

A witness in the home said McKeehan couldn’t find his belt he normally spanked the child with and couldn’t wait, so he grabbed the 12-inch long, two-inch wide spatula to beat the child.

McKeehan admitted to Lake County sheriff’s deputies, who had responded to the home on reports of child abuse, that the adult entertainment straps were already tied to the bed.  He added he took the child into the bedroom, made her lie down, used the straps to bind her wrists, took her pants down and beat her.

The witness told deputies that when she heard screaming, she went into the room and yelled for McKeehan to stop.  But instead the 175-pound McKeehan climbed onto the child’s back and continued to spank her with the spatula.

The affidavit adds the child was eventually able to get one hand free. But about 75 percent of the child’s buttocks was covered with a bright red and purple bruise.

McKeehan was charged with aggravated child abuse and remained in the Lake County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail.

According to the affidavit, McKeehan admitted he went too far and called law enforcement and the Department of Children and Families on himself.