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Elgin man charged with breaking infant's legs

An Elgin man has been charged with aggravated child battery after breaking the legs of his girlfriend's 8-week-old daughter, police said Monday.

Ricardo Robledo-Espino, 28, of the 300 block of McClure Avenue, told police he may have caused the injuries when he pushed down on the child's legs while climbing out of bed, according to a police report.

Authorities said they were notified by emergency room staff at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago on March 14, after the child was found to have "bucket handle fractures" just below the kneecaps.

The injuries were consistent with child abuse and appeared to be the result of the infant's legs being "pulled or twisted," police said.

Robledo-Espino and his live-in girlfriend initially told investigators neither of them knew what caused the injuries, but Robledo-Espino acknowledged it may have happened "due to accidentally putting his hand down on the child's leg while pushing himself off of the bed," police said. Later, he said he wanted to "get something off his chest" and subsequently made a taped statement implicating himself, according to the report.

Bond was set Saturday at $50,000, and Robledo-Espino remained in the Kane County jail Tuesday. His next court date is April 28 in front of Judge Thomas Mueller.

Robledo-Espino appears to have no prior criminal history in Kane County and there was no attorney listed for him in court records. Aggravated battery of a child is a Class X felony with a standard sentencing range of six to 30 years in prison.