EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah, Nov. 14, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — An Eagle Mountain man was booked into jail briefly after allegedly scalded his 4-month old son, causing third-degree burns on 40% of the infant’s body.
Matthew Nielsen Beck, 41, was arrested for aggravated child abuse, a third-degree felony, and was released on $5,000 bail.
On Sunday, Nov. 12, Utah Valley Dispatch received a call from the Division of Child and Family Services requesting a Utah County Sheriff detective “respond to the U of U Hospital regarding a possible child abuse incident,” Beck’s affidavit says.
“Preliminary investigative findings and interviews revealed that the father, Matthew Beck, placed the 4-month-old baby in the scalding water…”
“Matthew did not call 911, he did not call his wife who is a registered nurse, and he waited at least an hour after the child was burned to take the child to an Insta-Care facility.”
Investigators responded to the U of U Hospital’s burn unit and spoke with Beck’s parents and to a neighbor who had witnessed the aftermath of the incident, court documents say.
“Detectives learned the father of the infant, Matthew Beck, had been home alone with the infant and three other children the afternoon of 11/11/2023 and gave him a bath. I spoke with Matthew in a conference room in the burn unit at the U of U. I advised Matthew of his rights per Miranda, he stated he understood, and consented to speak with me.”
Beck told officers “he filled up a small tub used to bathe infants and toddlers with water from the faucet of the bathtub. He said he put the infant in the tub and let the water continue to fill the small tub until it was nearly full. He said the infant was crying when he put him in the tub, but claimed that was normal.
“After four to five minutes, he checked the water, realized it was hot and took the infant out of the water. As he took the infant out and dried him off, the infant’s skin started to fall off of the lower half of his body.”
Beck said he took the infant to another bathroom, where he ran cold water over the boy and put cold, wet towels over him.
“He spent almost an hour trying to cool the infant down and rubbed petroleum jelly on him,” the Utah County Sheriff officer wrote.
The affidavit notes that Beck confirmed he had waited more than an hour to seek medical care for the infant, and “Matthew stated he knew that the water heater was set to a high temperature. Matthew stated that he failed to check the temperature of the water prior to placing the infant in the baby bath. He left the infant in the water for approximately five minutes before checking the temperature and said that he was distracted by another one of his children.”
Beck’s wife was interviewed, and “stated that they had turned up the water heater to a high setting several months ago because they were running out of water. She stated that not only was Matthew aware of this, he was the one who turned the water heater up. She also stated that when the baby tub is full of water, the water level is up to the infant’s neck. She stated that the infant crying in the bath was NOT normal.
“Matthew’s wife was advised by a neighbor that when she responded to the bathroom to assist Matthew, the mirrors, toilet, and other items in the bathroom were steamy and damp as if the hot water had been running for some time.”
Beck’s wife also said “Matthew had used water temperature in the past to punish another one of their small children. She stated that in that instance, Matthew placed that child in extremely cold water and kept him there until he turned blue. She stated that Matthew made the comment that this would ‘toughen him up.'”
When asked about using cold water as a punishment for another son when that child was an infant, Beck “initially suggested that he did it to improve the child’s circulation. After continued questioning, Matthew admitted that did this to the infant as a form of punishment.”
Beck was arrested at 5:03 p.m. Sunday, his affidavit says. Beck was released after arranging bail, and promising to conditions including he appear for future court dates and avoid contact with his victim.
