Perkins man charged with abusing son for not liking OSU
BY KENDRICK MARSHALL World Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
2/20/13 at 7:36 PM
PERKINS — A Perkins man is accused of abusing his 9-year-old son because the child expressed support for the University of Oklahoma.
Gannon Wade Mendez, 42, was charged Feb. 14 in Payne County District Court with one count of child abuse.
Perkins police were contacted Feb. 1 by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services after a representative of the Payne County Youth Shelter in Stillwater reported that a 9-year-old boy was severely bruised, Officer Charles Danker wrote in a court affidavit.
The boy told investigators that he was disciplined by his father on Jan. 29 for telling another student at Sangre Ridge Elementary School in Stillwater that “he didn’t like OSU,” the affidavit indicates.
Mendez is accused of striking the child with a wooden paddle, resulting in injuries so severe that he missed school Jan. 30 and Jan 31, according to the affidavit.
After his showed his bruises to a teacher and other students, the boy was taken into protective custody, where bruises on his back, buttocks and leg were noted by authorities, the affidavit states.
Police also allege that Mendez put soap in the boy’s mouth as punishment.
When asked if he had been hit by Mendez before, the boy said his father punches and squeezes his nose until it bleeds, the affidavit says.
The affidavit also alleges that Mendez put the boy through a workout called the “Thabo Express” before school each morning. The child had to complete various exercises that included push-ups and jumping exercises throughout the night, and Mendez instructed that this be kept secret, the document alleges.
The boy’s step-sister told investigators that Mendez would take them both to a football field and “make them run until they puked,” the report says.
Associated Images:
Gannon Wade Mendez
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