Suspect in child beating death ordered held on $100G bail

LYNN – A judge ordered a U.S. Army veteran held on $100,000 cash bail and a potential probation violation after officials said the man beat a 3-month-old child to death after learning the infant and its twin brother were not his sons.”He did indicate he had messed up and dropped (the child) four times,” Essex Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall said in Lynn District Court Wednesday. “Doctors concluded the child had to have been violently shaken and slammed.”MacDougall said one injury the child suffered to his eye was so extreme that a longtime doctor who dealt with child abuse had never witnessed such an injury.Anthony C. Gideika, 32, of 526 Western Ave. #1, was arrested on a warrant Tuesday for assault-and-battery on a child with substantial injury.Gideika was arraigned Wednesday in Lynn District Court where a plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf.Lynn Police and Fire responded to the Western Avenue apartment at approximately 1:45 a.m. Monday and found the alleged victim, Chase Gideika, was not breathing and had “minor but noticeable” bruising around his forehead, according to a report by Lynn Police Officer Joseph Chadbourne.The child was taken to North Shore Children’s Hospital and then Massachusetts General Hospital. MacDougall told the court that doctors reported the child suffered bruising to the head and genital areas as well as significant internal head trauma, a skull fracture and internal bleeding.She reported the child’s brain was so damaged and swollen that it “lost all its architecture.”She said doctors determined the child had been shaken violently on more than one occasion during the past 48 hours and had injuries consistent with being kicked or kneed in the genitals and being “slammed.”MacDougall told the court that police were suspicious of Anthony Gideika after seeing how he was “manhandling” the victim’s twin brother, while preparing to go to the hospital. Officers also noted Gideika was acting strange and uncooperative when speaking of the incident.”Mr. Gideika was uncooperative and once explained why he was needed at the hospital stated: ‘why, was there something suspicious found or what?'” Chadbourne reported.MacDougall said Gideika explained the child’s injuries by telling police he (Gideika) had tripped and dropped the infant, who landed straddling a toy and may have hit his head. Gideika later admitted to police that he had dropped the child “like four times,” but stated he never hurt the baby on purpose, according to the police report.He also told police he had been abusing Klonopin because he had found out the infants were not his children, MacDougall said. Gideika told police he cared for the twins that weekend while their mother, Jennifer Nelson, attended a tattoo party.MacDougall reported the Department of Children and Families (DCF) had taken custody of a 3-year-old child at the Gideika and Nelson home a year ago. She also said DCF had a current open case investigating potential abuse and/or neglect in the household. MacDougall said the case was opened after the twins’ premature birth. Both twins tested positive for methadone and benzodiazapines, and were hospitalized for four weeks because of withdrawal symptoms, MacDougall said. But she said DCF had allowed the children to go home with Gideika and Nelson.MacDougall reported that the victim’s twin is uninjured and in DCF custody.She said Gideika was arrested at a Veterans Administration hospital Tuesday. She told the court that Chase Gideika died Wednesday morning, eliciting a gasp from the courtroom audience.Gideika was withdrawn but appeared to be crying as MacDougall spoke.She requested $100,000 cash bail and said that additional charges may be filed in the case.Probation requested Gideika be detained for violating motor vehicle hit-and-run charges, based on the facts of the case as recited by MacDougall.Public Defender Rebecca Whitehill said Gideika denied the child’s injuries were “anything other than accidental.”She said Gid