North Las Vegas man accused of injuring infant

A North Las Vegas man is accused of seriously injuring an infant in his care for the second time in five years, according to North Las Vegas police.

Jason K. Broome, 26, was arrested this week by North Las Vegas police on two felony charges of child abuse-neglect. An arrest report for Broome says police were called to an area hospital on Feb. 25 for a report of an injured 4-month-old boy. Medical inspection showed Broome’s son “had hemorrhaging in both eyes, which was consistent with Shaken Baby Syndrome,” a police investigator wrote in the report.

The infant was diagnosed with two frontal lobe brain bleeds, police said.

Broome and the child’s mother told police the baby fell on the ground while being given a bath.

“Since the parents’ story didn’t make any sense and was suspicious, the ER staff decided to call police and Child Protective Services,” police wrote.

Mother mentioned prior event

Further investigation showed the mother of the child told police she did not trust Broome in caring for the baby because of a prior incident in which Broome was babysitting the child in November. When she came home in November, she noticed the baby had two bruises on his temples. That day, Broome had texted the woman about the child, saying the baby is “more pissed because I’m not playing his game.”

“Jason then wrote about going to the store and getting Mike’s Hard Lemonade,” an arrest report states. “After, he stated, ‘Fine then. Be that way. I put lemonade in his bottle’ with a smiling face emoji.”

Broome was asked about the apparent bruises on the baby’s temples.

“Jason advised that he held (the baby) by his temples to hold up as he gave him a bath,” police wrote. “As a result, (the baby) had a bruise on his temple from behind held by him.”

2014 arrest in N.C., charges dropped

An arrest report states Broome told police he was previously stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and that he’d been arrested there on a child neglect charge in 2014. Police said in that North Carolina incident, Broome’s then 3-month-old daughter suffered “the same injuries” as Broome’s son in North Las Vegas.

“Jason then said that the charges did not stick and he was released,” police wrote about the North Carolina case. “Jason’s daughter was removed from the home and he lost all parental rights to her.”

Police allege the similarities in the cases demonstrate “recurrent acts of abuse towards his biological children.”

There is a discrepancy in the report about when the child in North Las Vegas was injured. Police said they were called to the hospital in February to investigate the baby’s injuries, but later in the arrest report police said Broome told them of caring for the infant in March, and Justice Court records indicate the date of the alleged offense was March 18.

Broome was being held at the Clark County Detention Center as of Friday morning. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April.

Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0390. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.