Mother Burns Her 15-Month-Old Son's Genitals With A Straightening Iron

 A 15-month-old boy is in state custody after his mother allegedly admitted to burning his genitals with a hair-straightening iron, according to the Cherokee County Sheriff’s office.

Jodi Rock, 19, of Tahlequah, remains in the Cherokee County jail on $200,000 bail on a complaint of felony injury to a minor child.

Rock allegedly confessed to investigators she burned her son’s genitals with a flat iron hair straightener, according to a 3-page arrest affidavit. The toddler’s mother told investigators she was straightening her hair and that she touched her hand to the iron then she took and closed the iron’s clamps on the toddler’s genitals, the affidavit says.

The child had three burns across the genital area, starting on the inside of his right thigh across his testicles and on to the left inner thigh, the affidavit states.

Several fractures were found on the child’s his left shoulder and 12-week-old fractures were found on his right shoulder, according to an arrest affidavit. “The burn to the left inner thigh appeared to have marks indicating a pinch,” the affidavit states.

The child also had forearm and wrist fractures that were somewhere between a day-old and 12-weeks-old and the bones in the forearm and wrists had never been properly set, the affidavit states.

Investigators observed the toddler to be “glassy eyed” and “withdrawn” and his shoulder had a deformity and the child appeared to be in “agony,” the affidavit states.