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Police: Scott Township Father And Mother Charged After 2-Month-Old Son Suffered Skull, Rib Fractures

SCOTT TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- A man is charged with abusing his 2-month-old son, causing skull and rib fractures.

The child's mother is also facing other charges after text messages showed she knew about the alleged abuse, police say.

On Sept. 3, Scott Township Police responded to a home on Bower Hill Road in Scott Township with a medical rescue team after a 911 call was made for a 2-month-old boy that fell in the house.

michaelkoban
(Photo Credit: KDKA)

Police say the baby's father was the only adult home at the time. He was with the infant and the baby's 17-month-old brother.

The infant's father, 34-year-old Michael Koban, is charged with aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

According to Allegheny County, Koban was a telecommunicator with the county and he is currently suspended without pay.

Police say Koban contacted his wife, Ashley Koban, at work and sent her a picture in a text message of the baby with a head injury.

They say Ashley Koban then called 911 and came home from work.

The baby was rushed to Children's Hospital and evaluated.

When the father was interview by the police, he told them he went into the kitchen to make the baby a bottle when he heard the infant and toddler crying.

Michael Koban told police when he returned, the baby was on the floor with a bump on his head, and he believed the toddler may have accidentally pulled the baby out of the infant swing.

According to Children's Hospital Child Advocacy Center, the baby had a partial skull fracture, an intracranial hemorrhage, and multiple fractured ribs in different stages of healing -- ranging from two weeks to five weeks.

The mother is charged with endangering the welfare of children and obstruction in child abuse cases after police searched her cell phones and found several text messages from Ashley Koban to who police say is her sister.

One said:

"Mike is tough, but never thought rough enough to break bones."

Another said:

"I have to work and have no one to watch them. I'm sick the whole time I'm gone. The fact that I can't trust my husband/their father with them is sickening."

Police say some of the other text messages found on the mother's phone included her saying she "needed to find a way out of the house."

Police found searches about shaken baby syndrome and fractured ribs on Michael Koban's internet history.

It is unclear who is taking care of the couple's four children.

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