By Jordan Sandler - bio | email
LEXINGTON COUNTY, SC (WIS) - A Lexington County man is in jail on charges of beating and sexually assaulting a 1-year-old girl.
Officials say Lance Williams could face up to 30 years for these crimes.
Tommie Hutto says there was no reason to think Williams would do anything vicious and she's known him for five years.
Williams' girlfriend is an in-law of Hutto's. She often lets the couple stay in her adjoining trailer in Swansea.
"Never had any cause for suspicion," said Hutto.
On Thursday, Williams' girlfriend left her 1-year-old daughter with him to look after. Deputies say during this time he beat up the girl and sexually assaulted her.
"He admitted to striking the child," said Lt. Scottie Frier.
Investigators say he did it out of frustration to the typical things a toddler would do.
"I believe the child had dropped or spilled a sippy cup," said Lt. Frier. "He admitted to grabbing the child and he also admitted to penetrating the child's vaginal area. With his finger."
Family members discovered bruises on the girl the next day and deputies made the arrest.
The mother of the toddler says she's feeling incredibly guilty about what happened. But she doesn't know what she could have done to anticipate it.
Williams has no criminal history and in fact he has a 2-year-old daughter of his own that he helped raise. The mother and the in-laws say, however, about a month ago, there were some warning signs.
"She pulled back away from him, she whined a little bit," said Hutto of the girl. "There were occasions when a family member would walk in and he would just be screaming to the top of his lungs at the child."
Hutto says the girlfriend just accepted her daughter's timidness as a reaction to Williams' strong discipline. She wishes she had confronted him sooner.
"I do not understand why someone could hurt a child, much less do the things that he did to this baby," said Hutto.
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Lance Williams (Source: Lexington County Sheriff's Department)
