Stephens County man wanted for child abuse allegations

DUNCAN — A Stephens County man is wanted for allegations of abusing a 2-year-old girl.

The Stephens County District Court issued a felony arrest warrant Jan. 29 for James Bledsoe, 27, of Duncan, for a count of child abuse, records indicate. The crime is punishable by up to life in prison and, if convicted, he would have to serve 85 percent of the sentence before consideration for parole due to the violent nature of the charge.

Stephens County Sheriff’s Deputy Patrick Norton stated he was called to a county home on Jan. 18 after the girl’s mother reported her daughter had been hit in the face by Bledsoe.

The mother said while preparing dinner on Jan. 16, Bledsoe, the child and two other people were sitting at the dining room table when he got up to get a glass of tea. He came back with the tea and was playing with the girl when she knocked the tea off the table, she said. Bledsoe responded by slapping the toddler hard enough across the face with his hand to bruise the girl’s upper left forehead and his fingernail cut the girl, the warrant affidavit states.

The next day, when the girl wouldn’t take a nap, the mother said, Bledsoe went into the room and grabbed the girl tightly, lifted her off the floor and screamed at her before slamming the girl down on the bed, according to the affidavit. The girl’s bruising was consistent with being grabbed and handled roughly, Norton stated. Another child in the house had no injuries.

Medical personnel at Duncan Regional Hospital saw the bruising and photographed the injuries, the affidavit states.