Palatine man charged with battery to infant

A 4-month-old boy was released from the hospital Friday and into protective custody after Palatine police said a man repeatedly hurt him over a four-week period.

Jonathan Willard, 30, of the 1900 block of Cambridge Drive in Palatine, has been charged with aggravated battery of a child.

Willard appeared Friday afternoon at a bond hearing in Rolling Meadows, where a judge set his bail at $250,000. He must post 10 percent to be released from Cook County Jail.

Palatine police said they arrested the man Tuesday, one day after Willard and the child’s mother brought the infant to the emergency room at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights.

The child was transferred to Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, where medical staff said he showed signs of “nonaccidental trauma.”

Willard voluntarily agreed to go to police headquarters and admitted to striking the child in the chest and forcing a baby bottle into his mouth several times, causing trauma, police said. Willard also admitted to forcefully pulling the boy from a swing without supporting his head, police said.

The abuse occurred when the child was in Willard’s custody while the mother was working, police said. The child is in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services pending an investigation.