CASS COUNTY, Mo. — A Grandview man was charged on Wednesday with beating two-year-old twins and a three-year-old.
Prosecutors charged 30-year-old Jaron Jones with three counts of abuse or neglect of a child.
According to the probable cause document, police were called to Children’s Mercy Hospital on May 6 because the three children had bruises on their inner thighs, bottoms and backs. Jones is the boyfriend of the children’s mother and had moved into her home to help watch the kids because the mother was working 12-hour days.
“The defendant seemed to have unrealistic expectations for potty training kids at the age of 2 and 3,” charging documents said.
The mother took pictures of the abuse with her phone. Before the police interview, Jones re-entered the residence through an unlocked glass door. Amber McGuire, the mother took the kids to the basement and called police.
Taking the girls to the park and capturing the moment to share is what Jaron Jones said he does all the time. His iPad is filled with pictures and videos of McGuire’s twin girls and three-year-old who he helps care for.
“Being a man, the best feeling in the world is being a father,” Jones said.
He said he felt blindsided when prosecutors charged Jones of abusing the three girls.
Court documents show the girls have multiple bruises on their leg, hips, shoulders and thighs. Jones said he had no idea where the marks came from until McGuire confronted him Friday, May 6.
“The allegations are false that I beat her kid. Like I just hauled off and beat a three-year-old? What? No, no,” Jones said.
Court documents state that Jones was upset with the kids’ potty training.
Jones did admit he spanks the girls as a means of discipline. He said he last spanked the three-year-old on Monday because of a potty training accident several days before McGuire reported the abuse.
“Lauree just pulled off her diaper and just, I immediately said, ‘wow, this is the first time it happened,’ my kids never did this. I got Lauree cleaned up and I did spank Lauree but I didn’t cause those bruises,” he said.
Jones and McGuire have one daughter together of which he was awarded full custody last year. That girl is not one of the three in this child abuse case.
FOX 4 reached out to McGuire who declined to comment.
