Inset: Cody W. Ainsworth (McLennan County Jail). Background: The area in Texas where Ainsworth allegedly abused his grandkids (Google Maps).
A 52-year-old man in Texas is accused of severely abusing his young grandchildren, allegedly whipping them, smashing their hands on the table, and even tackling them.
Cody Wayne Ainsworth was taken into custody last week and charged with three counts of injury to a child.
The investigation into Ainsworth began when the Bruceville-Eddy Police Department responded to a 911 call reporting potential child abuse at a residence in the 600 block of First Street in Waco on Wednesday, Nov. 19, CBS affiliate KWTX reported. The residence is about 100 miles south of Dallas.
Upon arriving at the address, officers spoke with a woman, identified as Ainsworth's stepdaughter and the mother of his three grandchildren, who reported that she and Ainsworth had just gotten into an argument over his treatment of the kids.
The mother reportedly described a particularly disturbing incident involving her 7-year-old son and Ainsworth. She said her son was taking a bath and used some of Ainsworth's body wash to try to make extra bubbles in the tub. In response, Ainsworth became "extremely mad," and forced the child to place his hand on the kitchen table. The 52-year-old then "repeatedly used [his] hand to beat the [child's] hand on the table," the report says, citing a probable cause affidavit.
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The mother claimed the hand-beating was a typical punishment administered by Ainsworth.
The affidavit also included allegations from the mother claiming that Ainsworth regularly used profanity and other "adult language" when addressing the children, particularly threatening them with physical violence, Waco Fox affiliate KWKT reported.
Ainsworth's wife, the children's grandmother, then provided investigators with a series of recordings in which Ainsworth allegedly threatened the boys. In one of the recordings, the grandmother can be heard scolding her husband for his treatment of the grandkids.
"I'm tired of you treating them like they are f—ing dogs," she said in the recording, per KWTX. "You talk to them like they are grown a— people, instead of like children. Do you know that is child abuse?"
The recordings also included Ainsworth saying the following:
- "If you look off one more time, you're getting whooped."
- "Touch that remote one more time, and you ain't got to worry about TV no more."
- "Let me catch you go through that door with one more piece of [expletive] food, you won't be able to [expletive] eat no more, because I will make sure you can't eat."
- "I'll [expletive] kick your a—."
- "I don't give a [expletive] if you gotta p—. You will wait until you get up in the morning. You can p— all over yourself. I don't give a [expletive]."
As the investigation continued, a school nurse told police that she spoke to one of the little boys, who claimed that he hurt his back when "Grandpa Cody" tackled him.
Additionally, a teacher for one of the kids had kept track of his "multiple physical discomforts," documenting the injuries "weekly," which included injuries to his "stomach, feet, cheek, chin, and elbows," among other things.
During forensic interviews with the victims, the 4-year-old boy reportedly told authorities he was scared of Ainsworth, who he said had "used a belt to give him a whooping on his stomach."
Ainsworth was being held in the McLennan County Jail on $150,000 bond. Records show he bonded out at some point after his arrest. It was not immediately clear when he was scheduled to appear in court.
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