Man Arrested 3rd Time on Child Abuse Charges

A man who police say has been convicted twice of abusing children was arrested again on Saturday.

According to the Paducah Police Department, a social services representative called from the emergency room of Baptist Health Paducah on Saturday night. A two-year-old girl had been brought to the hospital with fractures to her left tibia, right femur and the left side of her skull. 

Police say the child's mother was in the hospital because she had just given birth, and the child was left in the care of her boyfriend, 30-year-old Dustin Gorham. Police say his mother brought the girl to the hospital.

When questioned by police, Gorham reportedly told them the child fell from a bed early that morning, but hospital staff told police that a fall could not have caused the girl's injuries. 

Gorham was arrested for first-degree criminal abuse of a child 12 or under, and was taken to McCracken County Jail.

Paducah Police say they arrested him the previous two times he was charged with abuse. In 2006 he was convicted for abusing a 7-month old and was sentenced to 5 years in prison. In 2016 he was convicted on two counts of abuse of a 5-year-old and sentenced to three years on each count. The prison terms ran concurrently, and his parole ended last December.