Police: Alabama man accused of placing child in running dryer

An Alabama man accused of placing a child in a clothes dryer and turning it on is charged with aggravated child abuse.

Court documents allege 25-year-old Steven Garrett Todhunter of Wilsonville repeatedly put a child in a dryer or washing machine, over the course of a year.

A warrant filed in Shelby County claims the man sometimes would use a chair to secure the dryer’s door and turn it on.

Police in Alabaster tell news outlets the man also sometimes placed the child in a washing machine and threated to turn it on, saying the water was going to be “very hot.”

Court documents don’t list an attorney for Todhunter, who is free on bond following his arrest Saturday. He’s been ordered to avoid any contact with the child.