Ex-day care center worker broke child’s wrist, claimed boy fell, police say

CROWN POINT — A Gary man is wanted on several felony charges alleging he broke a 5-year-old boy’s wrist while disciplining the child at a Hammond day care and attempted to persuade the boy’s brother to tell their mother the boy fell.

Giles A. Mack Jr., 33, was charged with three counts of neglect of a dependent and two counts of battery to a person younger than 14.

Mack is accused of injuring the boy Aug. 2 at A is for Apple Learning Center, 1510 173rd St. in Hammond, and submitting a false report with his employer that stated the boy “tripped with both arms out to brace the fall,” according to court documents.

Donna Randles, owner of the learning center, said Monday Mack was laid off several months ago. She was not aware of the charges filed against Mack, she said.

Hammond police began investigating after the boy’s mother took him to an emergency room for an X-ray, which showed his left wrist was fractured, court records state.

When she picked the boy up Aug. 2, he told her his arm hurt and that Mack twisted while asking him, “Do you understand?” The mother called Randles, who said the boy had fallen while playing outside, according to court records.

Police met Aug. 9 with Randles, who gave police a copy of surveillance video showing Mack roughly grabbing the boy by his wrist several times and jerking him around.

Randles also gave police an incident report Mack prepared, in which he wrote the boy tripped while running and Mack guided the boy “by the arm while instructing him how to correctly perform a pushup.”

The boy later told police Mack took him outside for bad behavior, told him to run, do squats and pushups, and twisted his arm “real bad” while he was on the ground, court records state.

The boy’s 8-year-old brother, who also attended the day care, told police he was upstairs playing video games when he looked out and saw Mack on his brother’s back as the boy’s face and stomach were on the ground. The 5-year-old’s arm was twisted behind his back, records state.

The 8-year-old told police Mack later approached him and asked him to tell his mother his brother fell.

The boy’s mother took the boy Aug. 7 to a hospital, where his left arm was placed in a cast. Randles allegedly told the mother Mack wanted to speak with her, but the mother declined, court records say.

The next day, Mack called the mother and offered her “a couple of hundred dollars” to help her find a new day care, documents state. The mother declined the money and provided police with proof of his call, court records say.

Recent arrests booked into Lake County Jail