Bail set at $250,00 for Charleston man accused of holding toddler in hot water

A 26-year-old Charleston man accused of forcing his girlfriend’s toddler into scalding water last month had his bail set at $250,000 today.

Reginald Bruce Taylor Jr. of King Street was arrested Wednesday and charged with inflicting or allowing great bodily injury to a child. Taylor’s only criminal record is a 2003 conviction for possession of marijuana, according to court records.

Magistrate Linda Lombard said the boy “is permanently scarred in his private parts” before setting Taylor’s bond.

Taylor and the boy’s mother brought the 2-year-old to Medical University Hospital around 3 p.m. on Dec. 1, more than an hour after the injury occurred at their apartment on King Street. He had second-degree burns.

No one had called 911, according to an incident report from the Charleston Police Department.

The couple first told doctors that the boy was accidentally burned during a hot bath, but inconsistencies arose in their stories, the report stated.

Taylor, who is not related to the boy, said he was bathing the child. He stepped out of the bathroom, but when he returned, Taylor found the boy standing in the hot bathwater, he said.

The couple could not agree on who was in the apartment at the time, according to the report.

Experts at the hospital said the burns were intentionally inflicted, basing their opinion on the places where the boy was hurt: his feet, buttocks and genitals.

They said he was likely forced into the scalding water and held there, according to the report.

State Department of Social Services workers removed the boy from the home and placed him with his grandmother, the report stated.

The grandmother no longer is caring for the boy, and he’s back in custody of the state, the boy’s relatives said at the bond hearing today.

Both the child’s mother and the suspect have Facebook pages. Taylor says he works at “On Da Block.” Pictures on Taylor’s profile show him holding stacks of cash.

A photo on the mother’s Facebook account shows Taylor lifting a boy above his shoulder. Both Taylor and the boy’s mother are smiling in the picture that was uploaded on Christmas Day. It is captioned, “Like father like son.”

Reach Andrew Knapp at 937-5414 or twitter.com/offlede. Reach Dave Munday at 937-5553 or twitter.com/dmunday.