Authorities believe a Southern Indiana woman and her boyfriend used a pair of pliers to pull out a three-year-old boy's teeth and toenails. Andrew Richards, 27, was charged with child battery and confinement. The boy's mother, 22-year-old Jessica Carder, was charged with aiding child battery and neglect. Both were held on a $50,000 cash bond in the Jefferson County Jail in Madison on Tuesday.
Richards admitted to pulling the boy's teeth but did not say how. "I just pulled a tooth. My dad pulls my teeth all the time. I ain't traumatized," Richards said to reporters as he was escorted back to jail. Prosecutors said they know how Richards pulled those teeth.
"There's evidence, supported by their interviews that pliers were used to extract the teeth. There is also damage to the gum line," Jefferson County Prosecutor Chad Lewis said. He also said there was evidence Richards had been taking and abusing Oxycontin that night. Richards denied those allegations. Carder did not have anything to say about the charges.
The boy's grandfather, Karl Andersen, said he sought custody for the boy after incidents that happened earlier in the year. The boy is currently in custody of his biological father's parents. "It's kind of hard to understand him talking because he's got all them teeth missing on the top," Andersen said. "He's doing really good." Richards and Carder each face a maximum of 20 years behind bars for the charges.
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