Dad gets jail time for breaking arm of 8-year-old son (Chester County, Pennsylvania)

Not clear here if this father had broken up with the mother before or after this incident. But notice that he still has visitation of some sort with the kids, even with the one whose arm was broken. 

Dad is identified as STEVEN VANBUREN CROCE JR. 

http://www.phoenixvillenews.com/article/20131007/NEWS02/131009979/father-gets-prison-for-breaking-son-s-arm

Father gets prison for breaking son’s arm

By MICHAEL P. RELLAHAN

Posted: Monday, 10/07/13 02:57 pm

WEST CHESTER – As punishment for “acting out” during an “emotional episode,” a Phoenixville father put his son in his bedroom and tried to keep him in against his will. In the process, however, he wound up breaking the 8-year-old’s left arm.

Now, turnabout becomes fair play.

Next month, Steven VanBuren Croce Jr. will begin serving a 30-day to 12-month stay in Chester County Prison, where he will remain locked behind bars for most of the day as punishment for the emotional episode he displayed with his son.

Croce, 36, who now lives in Collegeville, Montgomery County, pleaded guilty Friday as part of a plea agreement to misdemeanor charges of simple assault and recklessly endangering another person stemming from the January incident at his former home on Nutt Road in Phoenixville,

As part of Croce’s sentence, Common Pleas Judge Phyllis Streitel also ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation and to complete anger management and parenting classes. He is currently under a court order that limits the amount of time he can spend with his son and his two other children.

“This has been the most traumatic experience of my life,” Croce told Streitel during a sentencing haring in which his estranged wife read a poem their son had written about the assault. “I never intended to hurt my son. I understand that I did, and for that I am deeply, deeply sorry.”

Streitel, in accepting the plea, told Croce that his actions had obviously gone beyond just the physical injury to his son, who spent weeks in a cast and brace. “I think it is clear that you have caused a lot of heartache across the whole family,” the former Family Court master told the defendant.