An Egg Harbor Township man accused of beating his child was released from jail with conditions Tuesday.
Julio Rodriguez, 32, is charged with aggravated assault and endangering in the alleged attack that left the preschooler with significant bruising, according to the prosecutor in the case.
He cannot have any contact with his three children or his wife, and must check in with the court weekly.
A Slaybaugh Avenue School preschool teacher brought the boy to the school’s nurse Nov. 24, after seeing red marks under his eyes, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
While in the nurse’s office, the boy asked the nurse if she would like to see his back, the affidavit states.
He then pulled up his shirt, “revealing significant injuries with bruising and marks on his back,” the detective wrote.
Rodriguez’s attorney, Stephen Funk, said the boy and his two siblings are known to jump on the bed in the middle of the night, and that if they were hurt would then lie to keep from getting in trouble.
Their mother, Veronica Rodriguez, told police her husband would spank the children, but never beat them.
“I saw the pictures myself judge,” Funk said. “It’s going to cause anyone looking at it concern until we get to the bottom of it.”
But the boy said Julio Rodriguez hit him and threw him against a wall and that his nose bled from it.
The other children also said Rodriguez had struck them with a belt in the past.
The boy’s back was full of black and blue marks, said Assistant Prosecutor Mat Feldman, calling the pictures brutal and saying they gave him a pit in his stomach.
“I keep using the word unconscionable,” Feldman told the judge. “But I can’t get a more visceral word to describe the pictures.”
Because Rodriguez has no criminal history, the public safety assessment called for him to be released on his own recognizance.
“The PSA didn’t see these pictures,” Feldman told the judge. “The PSA didn’t see this child’s black eye.”
Judge John Rauh agreed “the pictures and circumstances are certainly troubling.”
“The pictures are horrific,” Rauh said. “But Mr. Rodriguez has no prior record. None whatsoever. Given his lack of prior record, even drawing certain inferences, it doesn’t add up to clear and convincing evidence (to detain him).”
The prosecutor also raised concerns about “the mother’s willingness to possibly choose the father over the child.”
As a result, Rauh barred Julio Rodriguez from contact with his wife as a condition of his release.
Rodriguez hung his head when he was told that.
In arguing for Rodriguez’s release, Funk noted that he is permanently disabled and sees doctors weekly.
All three children who were in the home are no under care of the Division of Child Protection and Permanency.
Rodriguez will stay with his father in Egg Harbor City.
