Utah couple accused of abusing young boy

FERRON, Emery County — An Emery County couple is accused of abusing a young boy.

Talon Auston Cordova, 20, and Maddison Rose Swasey, 19, were each charged Monday in 7th District Court with aggravated child abuse, a first-degree felony. Talon was charged with four counts and Maddison with one. Talon Cordova was also charged with aggravated assault and two counts of obstructing justice, second-degree felonies.

On Aug. 31, the Emery County Sheriff's Office was called by the Division of Child and Family Services after a child was taken to a hospital in Ogden and "during the visit it was noted that the child had a rib fracture that was in the healing stages and a broken tibia," according to charging documents. Emery County was contacted because Swasey, the child's mother, lives in Ferron, the charges state. The age of the child is not disclosed in court documents.

In September, deputies attended an interview at the Children's Justice Center with witnesses to the alleged abuse.

"During the interview it was disclosed that Talon Cordova, aka Talon Allred, had multiple instances over the last few months where he had the child in his care. While Talon had the child in his care, it was disclosed that there were multiple times that Talon would hold the child waist high and drop the child to the ground," the charges state.

On another occasion, while the child was using a "Mickey Mouse walker, Talon would kick the walker away from the child, causing the child to hit into the wall or crash onto the floor," according to the charges.

Investigators also learned that Cordova would put the child in a swing that hung from the ceiling, twist it and "release the swing and the child would spin, being unable to control his head he would bounce his head off of the wall which resulted in visual bruising. The witnesses also stated that while the child was in Talon's care, when the child would not stop crying, Talon would grab firmly around the child's ribs, hard enough to leave bruising on the child's back, Talon would scream in the child's face," the charges state.

During one incident, Cordova became so frustrated with the child's crying that he "threw the child forcefully onto the couch," according to the charges. He also allegedly told those witnesses, who were children, "that they better not tell anyone," and that "Talon had made threats to burn down the witnesses' house with their family inside," the charges state.

"There were multiple reports of Maddison's boyfriend squeezing and yelling in the face of the child, pushing toys away from the child causing the child to fall and hit his head on the floor," police continued.

When Swasey was questioned, "she stated that there were multiple times that the boyfriend would rough house with her son while she was present and it would go too far, and the boyfriend would get too aggressive. Maddison stated that when she would come home from work the child would have bruises and markings on his face, head, and arms, that she stated she believed were from the child crawling around," according to the charges.

Cordova is also accused of abusing Swasey, the charges state.

Correction: Cordova is Swasey's boyfriend but not the father of the child, as mentioned in an earlier version of the story.

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