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NORRISTOWN — An Upper Merion man sat stone-faced with no visible emotion as the bloodcurdling screams of the infant son he’s accused of beating blared in a courtroom, part of dramatic home video surveillance footage that was shown to a judge weighing the man’s fate.
While Daniel Scott Rohloff didn’t react to the screams of his 2-month-old son during his trial, others in the courtroom wept and several, including the child’s mother, hurriedly left the courtroom, the screams obviously too much for them to bear.
Rohloff, 35, of the 300 block of Jefferson Street in the Bridgeport section of Upper Merion Township, faces charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child and recklessly endangering another person in connection with the July 26, 2021, alleged beating of his little boy.
Prosecutors Brianna Ringwood and Kelly S. Lloyd alleged Rohloff caused severe life-threatening injuries to the child including rib fractures and lacerations to his liver.
Rohloff waived his right to a jury trial and opted instead for a nonjury trial at which Judge Thomas P. Rogers will weigh his fate and render a verdict on Wednesday.
County Detective Heather Long testified on Tuesday that during the investigation of the injuries suffered by the infant, investigators learned about several surveillance cameras inside the residence.
The video surveillance footage from inside the home was played for the judge.
One video showed that at 7:22 p.m. July 26, Rohloff entered a bedroom carrying his son, who was quiet and content. Rohloff can be seen covering a camera in the bedroom with a cloth or towel, and then faint gurgling sounds made by the baby are audible until the baby begins intensely screaming, according to the recording played in court.
The child can be heard alternating between periods of crying and silence before Rohloff uncovered the camera and departed the room holding the baby, detectives alleged.
At 10:17 p.m., Rohloff, carrying the child, entered the bedroom again, closed the bedroom door and again covered the camera, according to testimony. Detectives alleged that within 11 seconds of the camera being covered, the baby begins intensely crying and cries “like this for 8 seconds and then goes silent,” detectives wrote in the arrest affidavit.
Six seconds later, the baby begins to intensely cry again until Rohloff exits the room and goes downstairs carrying the baby.
“The camera located in the first floor living room captures Rohloff walking down the stairs carrying (the child),” detectives wrote in court papers adding the baby “is making a loud, screeching, unusual sounding cry.”
Long testified that Rohloff was the only person in the home on that evening who was observed using a cloth to cover a camera in the home.
In other surveillance footage played for the judge, between the hours of 10:17 p.m. and 10:38 p.m., Rohloff and the baby’s mother can be heard arguing loudly and the baby’s mother yelling for Rohloff to give her the baby and repeatedly asking him to leave the residence before she threatens to call police. The woman also threatened to obtain a protection from abuse order and during this time objects can be heard being broken in the background, detectives said.
When detectives interviewed Rohloff on July 27 he allegedly provided a timeline of events that “was sporadic and vague and as the interview progressed, detectives noted numerous inconsistencies and efforts by Rohloff to minimize events,” according to the arrest affidavit.
When Rohloff was asked why he covered the surveillance camera in the bedroom, he allegedly could not provide an explanation as to why the cloth was placed over the camera at that time, detectives said.
But when he took the stand in his own defense on Tuesday, Rohloff, who is represented by defense lawyer Francis Genovese, testified he covered the camera because he was about to search for methamphetamine that he hid in the house and he didn’t want others to see his hiding places.
“Did you assault your son, punch him, slap him, squeeze him, anything like that?” Genovese asked Rohloff.
“Absolutely not,” Rohloff testified, claiming he wasn’t responsible for the child’s injuries.
Genovese argued prosecutors did not present sufficient evidence to prove Rohloff is the person who inflicted the child’s injuries.
“There’s no question this child suffered life-threatening injuries. The real question in this case is who inflicted the injuries,” said Genovese, arguing the case against Rohloff was circumstantial.
But Ringwood argued prosecutors did present sufficient evidence that Rohloff committed attempted murder and used deadly force.
“We’re talking about force that caused catastrophic injury that brought this child to death’s door. He had plenty of opportunities when he was in sole custody of this child,” Ringwood argued.
An investigation began on July 27 when detectives responded to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for a report of a 2-month-old boy suffering from “inflicted” wounds, according to a criminal complaint filed by Long and Upper Merion Detective Michael Davis.
Doctors reported the baby had been brought to the hospital by his parents at 6:34 a.m. July 27. Upon examination, doctors determined that the baby “had injuries to multiple organ systems” including rib fractures, both new and healing, bilateral subdural hemorrhages, bruising and lacerations to his liver, and bruising on multiple areas of his body, according to the criminal complaint.
The child, who required life-saving interventions such as intubation/mechanical ventilation and critical care, was admitted to the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit.
A physician who evaluated the baby said the injuries to multiple organ systems are indicative of non-accidental trauma and that the medical findings were consistent with trauma occurring at more than one point in time, according to court documents.
“He had severe injuries that were indicative of trauma. My diagnosis was child abuse. He had life-threatening injuries. It’s very possible he could have died,” Dr. Colleen Bennett, an expert in child abuse pediatrics, testified for prosecutors.
During the investigation, detectives spoke with a Montgomery County Office of Children and Youth caseworker assigned to the child and determined that social workers had become involved with the family on May 26, 2021, “after being notified of substance use and mental health concerns in regard to Daniel Rohloff,” according to the arrest affidavit.
“Rohloff was exhibiting strange and unusual behavior while (the child’s mother) was in the maternity ward giving birth to their child…His behavior required the hospital to summon the police and had Rohloff removed from the premises,” detectives alleged in the criminal complaint.
Between June 3 and June 15, Rohloff allegedly resisted the Office of Children and Youth’s attempts to implement a safety plan to protect the child, according to court papers. Social workers also attempted multiple times to obtain a drug screen from Rohloff but were unsuccessful, detectives alleged.
Social workers made multiple attempts to limit Rohloff’s ability to have unsupervised contact with the baby but Rohloff allegedly “indicated he did not believe he needed to be supervised,” according to court documents.
On June 15, the Office of Children and Youth approved the paternal grandmother, Michelle Rohloff, as a safety plan resource to supervise Daniel Rohloff at the Jefferson Street home. The safety plan clearly stated Michelle was to “provide supervision at all times” when father was present around the child and that Daniel was not permitted to sleep in the same room with the baby, according to the arrest affidavit.
“The safety plan also stated that she was to leave the home or call the police if Daniel was acting erratically or under the influence,” detectives alleged. “On the day she signed the safety plan, Michelle Rohloff was directly informed of her role and the conditions of the safety plan by the assigned OCY caseworker.”
Michelle Rohloff was the only approved caregiver living in the home and came up from Florida for the specific purpose of supervising her son while in contact with the baby in the home, detectives said.
Michelle Rohloff, 54, of West Palm Beach, Fla., previously pleaded guilty to a felony charge of endangering the welfare of a child in connection with incidents related to the child’s beating.
With the charges, detectives alleged Michelle Rohloff was in the family’s Upper Merion home and allowed Daniel Rohloff to be alone with the baby in violation of an Office of Children and Youth safety plan and a court order, and remained in her bedroom despite the baby’s loud and unusual crying.
Michelle Rohloff testified for prosecutors during her son’s trial, admitting that Daniel Rohloff was alone, unsupervised, with the baby at times.
When detectives interviewed the child’s mother, she revealed that she and Daniel Rohloff had a “heated argument” about 10 p.m. July 26 during which Rohloff allegedly threw a beer bottle at her.
Later on the morning of July 27, Daniel Rohloff, according to court papers, allegedly yelled through an intercom of a home security system because the baby was experiencing a seizure. The child’s mother went downstairs and found Rohloff alone with the baby and she described the baby as appearing “limp” and “pale in color,” and immediately recognized something was wrong and had Rohloff drive her to the Philadelphia hospital, according to testimony.
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