Amanda Cole and Larry A. Delaney
LANCASTER — A Lancaster couple are in custody for allegedly beating their 1-month-old son, police said.
Amanda Cole, 19, and Larry A. Delaney, 30, of 109 S. Campbell St., were in the Lincoln County Regional Jail this morning on felony charges of first-degree assault and first-degree wanton endangerment.
On Friday, Lancaster police officer Allen Weston responded to a Richmond Street residence where a relative of Cole’s and a family friend had the infant, said Police Chief Rodney Kidd. The complainants said they believed Cole and Delaney had caused a number of bruises to the baby.
Weston discovered visible bruising on the infant’s back, ribs and buttocks. He immediately contacted the Department of Social Services. The complainants took the baby to Fort Logan Hospital in Stanford, Kidd said. At the hospital, doctors discovered the child had a fractured skull, the police chief said.
Weston went to Cole and Delaney’s Campbell Street residence to interview them. They were arrested early Sunday morning.
First-degree assault is punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison, while the sentence for a first-degree wanton endangerment conviction is one to five years.
Cole is being held on a $5,000 bond, while Delaney’s release requires $10,000 cash.
Kidd lauded Weston’s work during Lancaster City Council’s meeting Monday. The chief reported a recent increase in cases involving child abuse and endangering the welfare of a minor.
“The economy and the heat seem to be increasing the pressures people feel and could be behind the increase in child abuse cases,” Kidd said during a telephone interview this morning. “The Lancaster Police Department will not tolerate any child abuse.”
