Pasco County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a man who they say admitted biting an infant on the face.
Derek Austin Shea, 24, faces a single charge of child abuse. According to the arrest report, Shea “intentionally and maliciously bit the two-month-old victim on the left side of her face leaving a bruise.”
Police arrested Shea on Friday at a home on Hunting Creek Loop in New Port Richey.
Per the arrest report, Shea admitted to a child protective investigator he bit the baby because he was stressed from having to care for the child.
It also says the defendant told the child’s mother he bit the infant two other times since her birth.
“I bit her. There’s no reason for it. No explanation,” Shea said in an interview with investigators.
The arrest report did not reveal his relationship to the child nor her mother.
Deputies released Shea from the Pasco County Jail after he posted a $5,000 bond.