Thomas Buzzell Courtesy photo by Franklin County Detention Center
FARMINGTON — A Franklin County grand jury has indicted Industry and Phillips men accused of physically abusing children.
Thomas J. Buzzell, 27, of Industry and Dylan A. Czubaruk, 24, Phillips, were each indicted on a charge of assault on a child less than 6 years old. Buzzell was also indicted on charges of operating under the influence and operating after suspension.
Buzzell allegedly struck a 1-year-old boy in June when the child’s mother had gone into a store, according to police. Buzzell, the child and another child stayed in the vehicle.
When the child’s mother returned to the vehicle, she saw red marks on her toddler’s face and took him to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington.
Farmington officers Brandon Sholan and officer Ryan Rosie met the mother at the hospital.
“It was clear by the size of the markings on the (boy’s face) that he had been struck with a large object such as an adult hand,” Sholan wrote in an affidavit.
Dylan A. Czubaruk Courtesy photo by Franklin County Detention Center
The officers saw red marks and bruising on the boy’s face from his nose to his forehead and noticed the bruising was spreading, Sholan wrote.
Buzzell told police the boy’s crying annoyed him so he put a pacifier in his mouth but he did not hit him. He told police he had had a few shots of whiskey, according to the affidavit.
Police arrested Buzzell when he failed a field sobriety test.
In Czubaruk’s case, his son’s mother who shares custody of the child with Czurbaruk and lives in New Hampshire, reported alleged abuse to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office on March 9.
Sgt. Matthew Brann talked to Czubaruk on the phone, and Czubaruk said his son throws temper tantrums and he had spanked him but not bruised him, according to Brann’s affidavit filed in a Farmington court.
Brann learned during his investigation that the child is often absent or tardy to school. The boy started school in Maine on Oct. 31 and had missed 33 days as of March 11, Brann wrote.
On March 13, Brann and Franklin County Detective David St. Laurent interviewed the boy, who said he was messing with his father’s Xbox remote controller. The boy said his father got upset, grabbed him by the shoulders and “smashed him down.” He described other incidents when his father “slapped him really hard” and shoved “his fingers down his mouth causing him to choke,” according to the affidavit.
A conviction for felony assault is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. Convictions for drunken driving and operating after suspension are punishable by up to 364 days and 180 days in jail, respectively.
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