Costa Mesa Man Gets 13 Year Prison Term for Punching, Shaking 2-Month-Old Son

A 26-year-old Costa Mesa man was sentenced Friday to 13 years to life in prison for punching, shaking and swinging his 2-month-old son by the neck with a blanket.

Joshua Allen Robey was convicted Aug. 19 of attempted murder, torture and child abuse.

Robey's girlfriend of two years set up a hidden camera in her Anaheim home because she suspected Robey was cheating on her, but did not know he was abusing their child, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

While Robey was babysitting the boy, the camera caught him wrapping a blanket around the infant's neck and swinging him around with it, according to prosecutors. Robey also punched, choked, slapped and shook the baby, prosecutors said.

Robey covered the infant's mouth while he cried, grabbed him by the neck and shook him, prosecutors said. He also covered the baby's face with a blanket, and even covered his nose and mouth with tape, prosecutors said.

The mother discovered the abuse when she watched the video, and when her mother learned of the hidden camera footage the next day, she took the infant to a hospital, where staff contacted Anaheim police.

Robey had been living on and off with his girlfriend and her mother in Anaheim until three weeks before October 2011 attack, according to prosecutors. At that time, he was living in a motel in Costa Mesa.

The baby sustained fractured ribs, hemorrhaging of the brain and liver injuries, according to authorities.

– City News Service.