BOONE COUNTY, Ind. — An Indiana man who pleaded guilty last week to biting his newborn daughter 17 months ago was sentenced last week.

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Gavan Rogers, 26, of Greencastle, was sentenced to three years in prison at the Indiana Department of Corrections on March 28 after pleading guilty to one count of domestic battery resulting in bodily injury to a person younger than 14, according to Boone County online court records.

Boone Circuit Court Judge Lori Schein said that Gavan will serve one year in prison, while the other two will be served on supervised probation, according to the Kokomo Tribune.

Rogers has received credit for three months already served in the Boone County Jail and nine months with Boone County Community Corrections, the newspaper reported.

Medical personnel at Witham Hospital in Lebanon contacted police after bruises were discovered on the 2-week-old infant’s wrists, shoulder and knee during a regularly scheduled checkup on Nov. 3, 2022, WXIN-TV reported.

According to court documents, Rogers, the father of the child, allegedly told hospital workers he must have “play bit” or “open mouth kissed” the child too hard.

A detective who examined photographs of the infant said they counted at least six bruises that looked like bite marks, according to the television station.

Hospital staffers sent the baby to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, the Tribune reported. The Indiana Department of Child Services about the mouth-shaped bruises found on the infant, Whitestown Police Detective Joseph Turney stated in a probable cause affidavit.

According to prosecutors, investigators learned about several reports made by nursing staff members when the child was in a neonatal intensive care unit. Staff members allegedly heard Rogers call the baby “evil” and “ungrateful,” according to WXIN.

In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury, the television station reported.

Rogers was originally arrested on March 14, 2023, WXIN reported.

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