Crime & Safety

OC Dad Caught On Camera Torturing Infant Son Convicted of Attempted Murder

Joshua Allen Robey faces up to 15 years in prison for punching, shaking, strangling and hanging his 2-month-old son from a blanket.

By City News Service
 
A 26-year-old Costa Mesa man was convicted today of attempted murder, torture and child abuse for swinging his 2-month-old son around by the neck with a blanket as well as punching, strangling and shaking the infant.

Joshua Allen Robey, who is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 27, could face  up to 15 years to life in prison.

Robey's  girlfriend of two years set up a hidden camera in her Anaheim home because she suspected Robey was cheating on her, but did not know he was
abusing their child, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.
  
While Robey was babysitting the boy, the camera caught him wrapping a
blanket around the infant's neck and swinging him around with it, according to
prosecutors. Robey also punched, strangled, slapped and shook the baby,
prosecutors said.

Robey covered the infant's mouth while he cried, grabbed him by the neck
and shook him, prosecutors said. He also covered the baby's face with a
blanket, and even covered his nose and mouth with tape, prosecutors said.
  
The mother discovered the abuse when she watched the video, and when her
mother learned of the hidden camera footage the next day, she took the infant
to a hospital, where staff contacted Anaheim police.
  
Robey had been living on and off with his girlfriend and her mother in
Anaheim until three weeks before October 2011 attack, according to prosecutors.

At that time, he was living in a motel in Costa Mesa.
  
The baby sustained fractured ribs, hemorrhaging to the brain and liver injuries, authorities reported.


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