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Placentia Man Accused Of Burning, Torturing, Stabbing Girlfriend's Son, 5


SANTA ANA (CBS)  —
A Placentia man is facing torture and child abuse charges after allegedly burning, stabbing, and punching his girlfriend's 5-year-old son.

Carmen Iacullo, 33, was arrested on suspicion of torture and child abuse. He is accused of burning the child's body with cigarettes and a lighter, punching him in the eyes, stabbing him with scissors or pliers and grabbing the boy by the genitals and throwing him to the ground.

Placentia Suspect
Officials believe Carmen William Iacullo beat, stabbed, and tortured his girlfriend's 5-year-old son. (credit: AP)

Detectives said the boy told them the abuse began after the family dog had an accident in the house.

Police photographs showed the 5-year-old suffered "bruising literally from head-to-toe," according to Placentia police detective Corrine Loomis.

"There are burn marks, this child is black and blue," said Det. Loomis.

Authorities say the kindergartner was tortured for a week in his trailer home where the suspect lives with the boy's mother, Lori Louisa Pincus.

The abuse was uncovered last week when Pincus left her son home alone when she went to visit Iacullo in jail after he had been arrested on a parole violation. The boy wandered out of the home and was later found at a Placentia gas station. Police say they immediately noticed signs of abuse.

Pincus, 39, was arrested by Placentia police and charged with felony child abuse and accessory after the fact. Police alleged she knew about the abuse and kept her son home from kindergarten to hide it.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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