Police make child abuse arrest

By Staff
Jason Houston Acting Publisher
A Russellville man was arrested Thursday and charged with child abuse, Police Chief Chris Hargett said.
Juan Baltazar, 55, of 417 Hillcrest Street in Russellville, was charged with aggravated child abuse, a Class B felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison upon conviction.
Hargett said local school officials notified his department that a child at the school was excessively bruised.
Hargett said Baltazar admitted to causing the bruises, but claimed they were from punishing the child, not abuse.
In an unrelated case, an inmate escaped from the Russellville City Jail Wednesday.
Hargett said John Paul Lucion Holland, 30, of Tuscumbia, was being held in jail on local misdemeanor charges and on felony charges from Colbert County when his girlfriend came to the jail to bring him some property.
Hargett said Holland had just returned from a litter detail. Holland then ran to his girlfriend's car and took off without her, Hargett said.
Holland's girlfriend was then arrested, Hargett said.
Shelia Cosby Mobley, 33, of Tuscumbia, was charged with facilitating escape.
Holland remains at large, Hargett said. Anyone with any information on his whereabouts is urged to call the Russellville Police Department at 332-2230.