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Alabama Man Repeatedly Put Young Child In Clothes Dryer And Turned It On, Police Say

Steven Garrett Todhunter also allegedly put the child into a washing machine and threatened to turn it on, saying the water would be "very hot," according to police. 

By Jill Sederstrom

An Alabama man is accused of using a clothes dryer for punishment, repeatedly putting a child into the machine and turning it on.

Steven Garrett Todhunter, 25, is facing aggravated child abuse charges after police say he put a child under the age of 6 into the washing machine and clothes dryer repeatedly between May 2017 and May 2018.

"When the victim was placed in the dryer, Steven G. Todhunter would close and secure the door with a chair, and sometimes turn the dryer on," according to an arrest warrant obtained by local station WBMA.

Paul Johnson with the Alabaster Police Department told WBRC that Todhunter allegedly also placed the child into the washer.

He would threaten to turn it on after telling the child the water was going to be "very hot," the station reports.

"It's painful," Johnson said. "Sometimes we see things in this line of work that no one should see."  

The victim wasn't identified but Todhunter does have a 3-year-old child, AL.com reports.

Todhunter is also facing charges of felony domestic violence and strangulation after the warrant said he allegedly held a woman against a wall and choked her until she became unconscious. This incident allegedly happened around the same time as the child abuse, police said.

Additional court records show that his wife filed a protection order against him in 2018, according to WIAT.

He was booked into the Shelby County Jail, but was released Sunday after posting a $20,000 bond.

[Photo: Shelby County Jail]

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