Father accused of abuse
A Las Vegas man was arrested Wednesday on allegations that he repeatedly burned his 11-year-old daughter with an electric iron because she couldn't answer a math problem.
Anthony Neal Perkins, 55, was charged with child abuse and endangerment and child abuse with substantial bodily harm. He is being held at the Clark County Detention Center on $13,000 bail.
According to his arrest report, Perkins told Las Vegas police he was trying to get his daughter to answer the problem of "85 + 15" last month.
When she didn't answer it quickly enough, he told her to pull down her underwear. He then placed a towel over her buttocks and plugged in an iron and placed it on the towel, the report states.
Perkins told police he did that "three, four or five times" as he told the girl to answer the problem. She was crying and saying that she didn't know the answer, he said.
Perkins gave his daughter some olive oil and told her to treat the burned area with it, the report states.
He told police he has hit his daughter with an extension cord and makes her sleep on blankets on the floor of the "wash room."
After marks broke out on the girl's skin where he beat her with the extension cord, he prevented her from going to school, the report states.
The girl's stepmother witnessed Perkins burning his daughter but didn't intervene, the report states.
Police also recommended Perkins be charged for failing to register as a former felon.
Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.
