Inset: Reylan Cortes-Garnier (Palm Beach County Jail). Background: Cortes-Garnier allegedly hits a nonverbal boy with autism with a shoe at a facility in West Palm Beach, Florida (WPEC).
A Florida therapist allegedly used items that are supposed to stimulate children with autism to strike the child, beating the young nonverbal boy with a shoe, tennis racket and book.
Reylan Cortes-Garnier, 28, is facing a charge of child abuse without great bodily harm. According to a probable cause arrest affidavit, the incident occurred Feb. 20 at Maximum Achievers in West Palm Beach. Cortes-Garnier, a registered behavior technician, had been working with the boy for about a year.
But the boy's mother became concerned when he came home with bruises and other marks on his body.
"The first thing I noticed, I saw he was shaking," the mother, Diana Hernandez, told local CBS affiliate WPEC.
She went to the director of the facility and asked to review video from her son's session with Cortes-Garnier. She said that what she saw next horrified her.
The video depicted Cortes-Garnier "engaging in multiple intentional acts of child abuse," cops wrote, including allegedly throwing a ball at the boy "at high velocity." Cortes-Garnier also took off his shoe and beat the boy with it, officers said. He then allegedly hit the boy several times with a racket and book.
Hernandez noticed the boy had a bite mark along with bruises to his shoulder, ribcage and lower back area. She took him to the hospital for medical evaluation and doctors determined his injuries were "consistent with physical trauma."
Hernandez told the director of the facility that she wanted to get police involved, but she said the director was allegedly initially hesitant to do so.
"Why are you risking your whole business for this man?" she said, per WPEC. "You're supposed to be taking care of my kids. I put my kids in your hands."
Cops reviewed the video with the director, who told them "such conduct is strictly prohibited at her facility and is not consistent with any established policy, training protocol or individualized behavior plan."
The director said Cortes-Garnier "profusely apologized" when she confronted him about the incident and showed him the video. He has since been fired.
Hernandez told WPEC that her son was "traumatized" but is doing better. She said the whole situation has been upsetting.
"I just want justice. I just want justice for my son," she said. "I honestly wanted it to be a lie. I wanted it to not be true. I wanted it to be something else."
Cortes-Garnier was arrested on Friday and has since posted a $7,500 bond. His next court date is set for March 29.
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