Man gets 30 days jail for 'vampire' bite to child's neck

10:33 AM, Mar. 31, 2011 

Mark R. Adams Jr.

A Sheboygan man who bit a 3-year-old boy's neck while "playing vampire" was sentenced this week to 30 days in jail.

Mark R. Adams Jr., 43, was sentenced Tuesday on a count of felony child abuse, accepting a plea agreement that dismissed a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge, as well as two misdemeanor counts of encouraging a probation violation from an unrelated case, according to court records released today. Judge Timothy Van Akkeren imposed the jail as a condition of three years probation.

Adams, who was charged in January, told police he was watching HBO's vampire-themed miniseries "True Blood" before he bit the neck of a boy he was babysitting three times, a criminal complaint said. Adams said he was "playing vampire," adding it was possible he said something about wanting to suck the boy's blood.

The child's mother told police she returned after three hours away to find the boy crying on the kitchen floor. The boy immediately said Adams bit him on the neck, and three bite marks were clearly visible.

When confronted, Adams said, "I'm not a pedophile," then attacked the woman as she tried to leave, punching her in the face.

Adams, of 517-A N. 15th St., was charged with the probation-related offenses earlier this month for allowing a man convicted of a sex-related crime against a child to spend time in his home with his three young children. The charges were read-in for consideration at sentencing.

The complaint said Adams allowed Christopher L. Bardwell, 40, to visit him in his apartment almost every morning while his children � ages 4, 7 and 10 � were there. Bardwell is not a registered sex offender but being with the children violated the terms of his probation.

Bardwell said he often told Adams he shouldn't be there but Adams told him, "Don't worry about it, no one will find out." He said the two often smoked marijuana together.

Bardwell was convicted in April 2008 of causing mental harm to a child, which was amended from an initial charge of first-degree sexual assault of a child. Bardwell told Adams he showed pornography to a child using a video game console, the complaint said.

LINK TO PHOTO:

http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20110331/SHE0101/110331063/Man-gets-30-days-jail-vampire-bite-child-s-neck?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE