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   From: fredfuckedpatti@gmail.com   
      
   On 18 Jun 2020, Rich Keebler  posted some   
   news::   
      
   EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this report incorrectly   
   stated that an organization named Adoption Advice and Guidance   
   served as the adoption agency in this case. That is incorrect,   
   and we apologize for the error.   
      
   A professor has been arrested and charged with first-degree   
   murder and felony child abuse for allegedly abusing a baby boy   
   he adopted just weeks ago, leaving the newborn with a fractured   
   skull, broken rib, and other injuries.   
      
   Gaston County Bureau Reporter Ken Lemon was in court Thursday   
   afternoon, where Van Erick Custodio, 42, faced a judge on the   
   upgraded charge. The charges against Custodio were upgraded   
   after the baby died from the injuries he sustained from the   
   alleged abuse, according to investigators. He was given no bond.   
      
   Lemon also learned the biological mother who gave up her newborn   
   son, believing he would have a better life with another family,   
   arrived from out of state Thursday. She was able to be with her   
   son just before he died.   
      
   Channel 9 obtained warrants against Custodio, a now-suspended   
   Belmont Abbey College professor, that say he admitted to   
   physically abusing the baby boy “multiple” times. The baby was   
   just six weeks old.   
      
   On Wednesday, Lemon discovered Custodio and his wife, who   
   already adopted a girl, held fundraising efforts to pay for the   
   adoption. They were even part of a video for it.   
      
   “We just felt like God put that desire in our hearts,” they said   
   in the video. “We’ve always wanted to have a family. At the end   
   of the day, it’s a calling, right, it’s also a scriptural thing,   
   right?”   
      
   ALSO READ: Gaston County mother accused of intentionally   
   starving 3-year-old son, prosecutors say   
      
   The organization Both Hands helped the couple raise money for   
   the adoption.   
      
   “Our team is incredibly devastated about this news,” the agency   
   said in a statement. “We find these actions atrocious and pray   
   for healing for this child. We strive for all children to be   
   placed in safe and loving homes, so our hearts are broken.”   
      
   The child was six weeks old but had already been through trauma.   
   Custodio is in the Gaston County Jail and, according to arrest   
   warrants, admitted to causing serious harm to the adopted   
   newborn.   
      
   (VIDEO: 11 p.m. update -- Adoptive father arrested, accused of   
   physically abusing 6-week-old, warrants say)   
      
   On Wednesday, investigators were at his Gastonia home, a place   
   police were first called to on April 1 for a child in cardiac   
   arrest.   
      
   Arrest warrants reveal the child had a “skull fracture, broken   
   rib, and multiple fractures in each leg.” Another warrant says   
   friends of Custodio went to police saying he had told them,   
   “...he threw the child on the sofa and also squeezed the child,   
   hearing a pop in the rib area” and while changing the baby’s   
   diaper, “...he jerked the legs of the child back and felt a pop   
   in the child’s legs.”   
      
   Two days later, police charged Custodio with felony child abuse   
   with serious bodily injury -- but he wasn’t around.   
      
   Three days after those charges were filed, York County deputies   
   swarmed a Lake Wylie home. They had gotten information from the   
   State Law Enforcement Division that Custodio was hiding out   
   there. Custodio was arrested and Wednesday afternoon, he was   
   brought back to Gastonia.   
      
   ALSO READ: Police: Man charged with shooting, killing another   
   man in Gaston County neighborhood   
      
   The man who pled publicly for money to adopt a child is behind   
   bars, charged with horrible abuse of that child, who died in a   
   hospital Thursday.   
      
   Custodio’s personal website says he once volunteered for a   
   family ministry.   
      
   His wife was also part of that fundraising effort and she   
   adopted the child with him. The warrant says she told him to   
   leave the house when the abuse came to light.   
      
   Custodio faced a judge Thursday, but the investigation is still   
   active.   
      
   UNC Charlotte said Custodio was working as an adjunct professor   
   there but is now on administrative leave.   
      
   UNC Charlotte statement:   
      
   “UNC Charlotte hired Van Erick Custodio on a limited, temporary   
   contract to teach one class this semester in an adjunct   
   capacity. He has been placed on administrative leave, and   
   another faculty member will cover this class for the remainder   
      
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