Charges are filed on abuse of Child - Claremont

By MELANIE PLENDA
Union Leader Correspondent 

CLAREMONT – A couple allegedly coerced a severely abused toddler to hit and poke herself on video to make it look as if she had caused her own injuries, according to police and prosecutors.

Laura Sullivan, 23, of Claremont, and Jason L ongley, 22, of Acworth, are each facing a felony charge of falsifying evidence. Police and child welfare workers are still trying to determine who injured the child, Sullivan County Attorney Marc Hathaway said.

State Trooper Eric Berube was able to enhance the sound on the tape, and said he could hear Sullivan's voice in the background, giving the 2-year-old instructions that included, "hit yourself," "faster," and "poke your eyes."

Sullivan and Longley initially showed the tape at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, where the girl was taken with "bleeding in her eyes and brain, a severe skin infection on her face, and strange bruising patterns," according to Berube's arrest affidavit. Doctors found six blood clots behind her eyes. One nurse described the bleeding in the girl's brain as consistent with being shaken.

Both Sullivan and Longley denied hurting the girl, according to court records.

Longley told police the girl had been acting strangely for about a month and a half, suffering three seizures, hitting herself in her sleep and pulling out her own hair.

"(Longley) said that they found that she was pulling it out herself, and so they elected to shave her hair off," Berube wrote in the affidavit.

At the hospital, Sullivan showed Berube, doctors, and case workers the video as well as pictures of the girl's injuries. The video showed the little girl "tapping" on herself, her hands curled but "not tightly fisted," wrote Berube, who said it didn't look as if she were hitting herself with enough force to cause any marks. He also looked at several photographs. Some showed the toddler with bloodied face and nostrils.

According to the affidavit, Sullivan and Longley said they were afraid to take the girl to the hospital without proof the girl was causing her own injuries. They were worried she would be taken away from Longley, and Sullivan's son could be taken from her. Both Longley and Sullivan have files with child protective services, according to court files.

They said admitted to making the tape. They said she had been doing these things in her sleep but after watching her for several nights, and not seeing the behavior repeated, they decided to recreate what they said they saw.

Sullivan told police the child had hit her head on a stump. The following day she fell on the floor and was non-responsive. Sullivan said she thought the girl was dead or dying, so she slapped her face, shook her hard by the shoulders and then bounced her on her knee to try to revive her. But she later told police that the toddler fell backward and hit her head on a piece of furniture. When she had a seizure, Sullivan told police she slapped and shook her.

According to Claremont District Court records Longley does not have a criminal record. Sullivan was arrested for assault in June for allegedly scratching Longley during a fight, according to court records.