A 32-year-old Cottageville, WV man is being held on $2 million bail after he reportedly sexually assaulted a 9-month-old baby girl, leaving her critically injured. The Jackson County Sheriff said the case is the most horrifying sexual assault he's seen in more than two decades of police work.
According to WCHS-TV, Benjamin Taylor is charged with first-degree sexual assault after he reportedly raped his girlfriend's 9-month-old daughter.
Sheriff Tony Boggs said his department received a call from the girl's mother that the child was unresponsive. The woman told police that she awoke to find that Taylor had taken her child to the basement. When she went downstairs to see what he was doing, she found him with the baby, who had lost a "significant amount of blood."
Detectives spoke with Dr. Steve Eshenhaur at Jackson General Hospital and learned that the infant suffered extensive trauma to her lower extremities as well as bruising to her head and face. She is currently in critical condition at Charleston Area Medical Center General Hospital.
Boggs said that Taylor has made no admission of guilt with regards to the child's injuries, which he said are the worst assault he's ever seen, "with the age of the victim...you just can't fathom this."
Taylor is being held at the South Central Regional Jail in Charleston.
Watch video about this story, embedded below:
