A Superior man accused of providing papers for rolling marijuana to his 16-year-old son and later punching the teen made his initial appearance in Douglas County Circuit Court on Wednesday.
Donald Mark Gray, 49, faces one count of felony attempted physical abuse of a child and one count of misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a child stemming from a May 23 incident.
According to the criminal complaint:
A teen ran up to Superior Police Officer Joel Markon’s squad car and told him he had been doing drugs and needed help. The boy was freaking out, nervous and paranoid, and asked to be brought to St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth. In his statement to police, the 16-year-old said he was at his father’s house in Superior and his father got high on crack.
After going to McDonald’s to eat, they got a ride back to Gray’s house. At that point, Gray begged the teen for some more money with which he bought more drugs. When the drugs were delivered, the boy stated, he was handed some marijuana and he rolled it into a joint with paper his dad gave him. He smoked half of it, slept for a while, woke up freaking out. His dad wouldn’t let him use the phone and he ran outside and ended up lying by a dumpster.
He later asked his dad to use the phone and called his mother. Gray overheard the conversation, got mad and punched the youth in the face and back of the head. The 16-year-old ran outside, saw Markon and ran to him.
Gray pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge. He remains free on $1,000 cash bail. As a condition of his bail, he cannot possess or use drugs and he is to have no contact with the victim.
If convicted, he faces up to three years imprisonment and a $5,000 fine for the felony charge and up to nine months imprisonment and a $10,000 fine on the misdemeanor charge.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks