By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – A LaPlace man was arrested on cruelty to juvenile and simple battery charges following a physical argument with his 15-year-old niece that put her in the hospital, according to a release from the St. John Sheriff’s Office.

Capt. Dane Clement, a public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office, said authorities issued an arrest warrant for Jesse L. Bean, 31, of 1 Forestal Court, Feb. 16 in connection with a Feb. 13 incident in which he allegedly struck his niece several times with a belt and threw her against a wall and a table.

According to the release, the girl, who was treated and released from River Parishes Hospital, told deputies she and her uncle were fighting about a cordless home phone and the altercation became physical. The girl told deputies that two days after the incident she awoke with abdominal pain, and another uncle brought her to the emergency room.

Clement said the argument occurred at a home in the 1300 block of Madewood Drive in LaPlace. He said deputies were called out to the home around 1:15 a.m. and spoke with the girl’s mother, who told authorities her daughter had gone to bed and that the matter was settled.

The mother did not know the severity of the girl’s injuries until the pain resurfaced two days later.

Clement said Bean turned himself in Tuesday and was booked into the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility in LaPlace, where he is being held on a $10,000 bond.