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SALT LAKE CITY — A man who pleaded guilty to abusing his 4-month-old daughter but disappeared before he was to be sentenced is back in custody.
Elijah Malykeshabazz Jodejuan, 25, of Salt Lake City, pleaded guilty in May to a reduced count of third-degree felony child abuse.
On Nov. 4 he was home with his daughter and set her in a carrier in front of a space heater while he took a shower. The child apparently grabbed a power cord and pulled the heater on top of her, leaving a patterned grid burn mark on her forehead and other injuries to her mouth, police say. When Jodejuan got out of the shower, he found the heater was actually stuck to the girl and she was "screaming bloody murder," according to charging documents.
Jodejuan, who became frustrated, pulled the heater from the child and forcefully shoved a bottle into the toddler's mouth and then put her in a closet while she cried, the charges state. The child was found when the girl's mother came home.
After his arrest, Jodejuan was granted supervised release pending sentencing. But authorities said he stopped checking in with them on June 7. Agents began to look for him Tuesday. Jim Thompson, with the U.S. Marshals Office, said agents received tips that led them to a residence in Salt Lake City where Jodejuan was found hiding in a closet that night.
He was taken into custody.
