Two charged for child abuse after allegedly restraining 3-year-old in a crib, charges say

TREMONTON, Utah (ABC4) — A Tremonton mother and her boyfriend have been arrested and charged after a police investigation revealed that the two were allegedly restraining a 3-year-old in a crib.

Avery Rose Williams, 23, and Gaige Tobler, 22, have both been charged with felonies by the Box Elder County Attorney’s Office. Williams is charged with one count of aggravated child abuse and six counts of child endangerment. Tobler is charged with one count of aggravated child abuse, two counts of child abuse with injury, and six counts of child endangerment.

According to documents, Williams and Tobler began dating in January 2025. During February, the two moved in together with Williams’ 3-year-old child. Tobler began caring for the 3-year-old for extended periods of time, unsupervised. He was also added as a contact so he could pick up the child from school.

The 3-year-old victim is “mostly non-verbal” and autistic, documents say. During March 2025, the child victim sustained injuries to their leg while being supervised by Tobler. When Williams returned home, she found the child limping and repeating the word “sorry.”

Over the next several weeks, the 3-year-old child sustained more injuries. They had to get stitches due to a head injury a week after the leg injury, and in mid-April, Williams found the child had two large bruises on their forehead, documents say. Tobler told Williams that the child victim had those injuries when they got off the school bus.

After speaking with staff and the bus driver, Williams was told that the bruising had not happened at school or on the bus. Surveillance video confirmed that nothing happened at school that could have possibly caused the injuries.

On April 17, the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) told the Tremonton-Garland Police Department that the 3-year-old was sustaining several unexplained injuries. When they spoke with Williams, she confirmed that Tobler was the only one home with the child when the injuries were likely sustained.

A forensic medical examination was conducted on the child at the Cache County Children’s Justice Center. The nurse practitioner on site confirmed that the injuries sustained by the child were consistent with “inflicted trauma” and child abuse, according to documents.

On June 9, DCFS and police received another report. This time, the 3-year-old had sustained injuries to their wrists and one ankle. The nurse practitioner reviewed photographs of the injuries and said they were consistent with ligature marks and burns caused by friction.

Williams allegedly admitted to police that she had taken the child victim to a hospital in a different county to be checked for the ligature marks and burns. She denied knowing where the marks came from and said that they had appeared during a car ride for no discernible reason.

A search warrant was served on the home that Williams and Tobler were living in. During the search, the 3-year-old and another juvenile family member were located in a room together, locked from the outside. Inside the room, officers allegedly found a bed with a rail guard that had loose straps attached to it; one strap was located at the head of the bed, and the other was at the bottom.

One of the responding officers said that the room was in “a shocking state of neglect” and smelled like “sour milk and dirty diapers.” The floor of the room was allegedly covered in old food, dirty toys, and dirty blankets. The officer noted an overall neglect throughout the entire house, citing rotten food and bugs.

The officer also noted that an overall smell of marijuana was present in the home. Police located two containers of THC wax, a grinder, at least two bongs, and a pipe. These items were all easily accessible to the young children living at the home and qualified as child endangerment.

The nurse practitioner reviewed the evidence and said that it was “plausible” that the straps on the bed caused the ligature marks on the 3-year-old victim. She also said that she and her colleagues “felt that these injuries were not something that would have just appeared” and it likely would have “taken place over a period of time,” according to documents.

During a police interview, Tobler told police that they locked the child in the room to keep them away from things, but denied restraining the victim. Williams and Tobler were taken into custody, and both were charged on June 13.