Cops: Man used iron to force son’s confession
By Brian Stanley Bstanley@stmedianetwork.com May 7, 2012 10:34PM
Josue E. Manrique
Updated: June 9, 2012 8:16AM
JOLIET — Police say a man used a clothes iron to force his 11-year-old son to admit to stealing a dollar early Sunday.
Josue E. Manrique, 35, of 931 Highland Ave., was arrested on charges of aggravated domestic battery and aggravated battery of a child for the alleged attack.
Cmdr. Brian Benton said Manrique admitted he’d been drinking Saturday night and acknowledged being on edge before returning home about 3 a.m. Sunday.
“He’d been watching a boxing match where his fighter had lost and was having transmission problems with his car on the way home,” Benton said. “When he came home, he noticed a dollar missing from his dresser and that apparently set him off.”
Police say Manrique took a leather belt and woke his son up by hitting him with it. After striking the boy several times, Manrique turned on the iron when the boy denied taking the dollar.
“He put the iron on his forearm and top of his hand, then threw him on the bed and placed it on his chin,” Benton said.
Manrique then reportedly told the boy to go back to sleep and also went to bed. Later that morning the child told a relative who notified police. Manrique was arrested at his residence at 10:42 a.m.
“He initially claimed he had been struggling with the boy to keep him from burning himself with the iron, but later changed his statement and was charged,” Benton said.
