Dad charged with raping his 16-month-old son

Police have arrested a Tennessee mother after her 16-month-old son was brutally raped by his own father earlier in November.

Danielle Bowen, 22, was taken into custody on Monday and charged with multiple counts of child neglect and failure to seek medical attention for her severely injured son. A day before Bowen's arrest, her baby's father, Simon Dean Porter, 33, was arrested in Alabama and charged with child rape.


According to the local District Attorney, Brent Cooper, Danielle is being charged because she never took the baby to the hospital. Authorities found out about the baby's condition when a caretaker sought medical treatment for him two to three days after the sexual assault.

Doctors at Vanderbilt Medical Center alerted authorities to the injuries suffered by the child and officers interviewed Porter but he fled the scene shortly after the brief interview.

According to quotes from the affidavit, “… Porter did knowingly, intentionally and unlawfully penetrate his 16-month-old son. This unlawful penetration caused severe and possibly permanent damage to… the child.”

Porter and Danielle share another child, a daughter. Porter is now being held at the Lawrence County Jail in Tennessee on $100,000 bond.