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Barber Charged With Torturing, Beating 6-Year-Old To Death With Piece Of Lumber

Barber charged with beating boy to death

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Dana Abizaid Contributor
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Police in California charged a barber with torturing and beating to death a 6-year-old boy he was babysitting last month, authorities said.

The alleged murder happened Aug. 29 when the boy’s mother, who works night shifts as a nurse, dropped him off at 41-year-old Ernest Lamar Love’s barbershop in Placentia around 6:30 p.m., the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said in a press release.

Love allegedly took the boy, identified as Chance Crawford, to a local park where the victim peed his pants. This allegedly enraged the suspect. (RELATED: Man Charged With ‘Brutally’ Beating Toddler To Death: REPORT)

Video surveillance later showed Love entering his barbershop toting “a large piece of raw lumber” while the victim trailed him, the press release alleged.

Authorities have charged Love with beating the boy to death with the piece of lumber, according to the district attorney’s office. He then allegedly applied hydrogen peroxide on the victim’s open wounds and pressured him to do push-ups, sit-ups and jumping jacks.

Love is accused of bringing the boy to the Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) early the next morning rather than calling 911 when the child collapsed, according to the press release.

CHOC doctors allegedly found flesh missing from the boy’s buttocks, displaying raw, gaping wounds. The boy also suffered from subdural hematoma, extreme brain swelling and additional injuries related to violent shaking, according to the press release.

“While his new classmates were celebrating the end of the first week of first grade, Chance’s seat in his classroom was empty as he fought for his life in a hospital bed,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. “Words do not exist to describe the absolute terror this little boy was forced to endure – all at the hands of someone who was supposed to be protecting him, not torturing him to death. Now we as prosecutors will do everything to pursue justice for little Chance and be his protectors in death that he failed to have in life.”

The six-year-old boy died Tuesday.

Authorities charged Love with one count each of felony murder, felony torture and felony child abuse resulting in death, according to the press release.

Love faces a maximum penalty of 32 years to life with an addition of five years. He pleaded not guilty and is in custody without bail.