APPANOOSE COUNTY, Iowa — An Altoona man who pled guilty to fracturing a child’s spine was sentenced to five years in prison on Wednesday.

In December 2022 Centerville Police received a tip about a child who had been admitted to a hospital in Centerville, and then later was transferred to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital due to extent of their injuries, court records state.

Further investigation revealed that the child’s grandmother had dropped them off at around 6 p.m. on Dec. 15, after the child had spent the day with her. The grandmother told police that when she dropped the child off there were no injuries on the child. From around 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. the child was in the sole care of Logan Stover, a criminal complaint states.

When the child’s mother returned home she noticed visible injuries on the child and rushed them to the hospital. Court records state the child suffered from significant bruising all over their body, abrasions on their head and torso, and a fractured spine.

In March 2023 Stover was arrested and charged with child endangerment, child endangerment – serious injury, and child endangerment – bodily injury. Stover originally pled not guilty to all charges, but in July pled guilty to child endangerment – bodily injury.

Stover was sentenced to the maximum five years in prison on Wednesday and a no contact order barring him from any contact with the child has been filed.