CAPE MAN ACCUSED OF CHILD ABUSE

A Cape Girardeau County man has been charged with striking his 11-year-old son over a period of three days last week.

The Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department reported Eric Schwepker kicked the boy, struck his toes with a claw hammer and hit his buttocks with an aluminum baseball bat.

Pictures show purple bruises on the boy's body, the sheriff's office reports.

Schwepker, 30, is charged with four felony counts of child abuse. His bond is set at $25,000.

Schwepker pleaded not guilty in court Monday, and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for March 5.

The boy was reportedly picked up Friday by a county resident while walking along a rural road and driven to the police station at Chaffee, Mo. There the boy was referred to the Cape Girardeau County sheriff's office.

Court records state the boy told a sheriff's deputy that his father had recently injured him on multiple occasions "because he was frustrated."

The boy stated that his father coached him on what to say to teachers if questioned about his injuries and threatened to hang him with a rope if he ever went to police.

Later on Friday, Schwepker contacted the sheriff to file a missing persons report on his son, whom he claimed had run away. Schwepker agreed to come to the sheriff's office to discuss the matter.

After being interviewed, Schwepker was arrested.

Sheriff's investigators say that on Jan. 28, Schwepker kicked the boy and smashed the boy's toes repeatedly with a claw hammer, possibly breaking bones. They say on Jan. 29, he hit the boy with a belt, and on Jan. 31, he struck the boy on the buttocks with a baseball bat.

Investigators seized a red aluminum baseball bat, two claw hammers, a leather belt and lengths of rope from Schwepker's residence on County Road 205.

Each of the four child abuse charges carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, said assistant prosecuting attorney Scott Lipke.

Police report that the boy was treated at Southeast Missouri Hospital and is in temporary foster care.

Schwepker's defense counsel, Jeff Hine, declined to comment.

Calls to the Schwepker residence went unanswered Monday.