Tallahassee babysitter accused of molesting child

Braxton Upshaw has been arrested on a child molestation charge after the 4-year-old girl he...
Braxton Upshaw has been arrested on a child molestation charge after the 4-year-old girl he babysat several times accused him of inappropriately touching her, court documents say.(Leon County Sheriff's Office)
Published: Aug. 3, 2020 at 2:58 PM EDT
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - A 19-year-old Tallahassee man has been arrested on a child molestation charge after the 4-year-old girl he babysat several times accused him of inappropriately touching her, court documents say.

The victim’s mother called the Tallahassee Police Department on October 7, 2019, in reference to a sexual battery, according to court documents. The 4-year-old girl told her mother the babysitter, Braxton Upshaw, had inappropriately touched her, the probable cause affidavit says.

According to a written statement, the victim said “Braxton touched me with his thing. You know, his big black thing in his pants.” The mother told police Upshaw seemed “very anxious to leave” when she came home from work that day.

Upshaw had been babysitting two children for the mother since about August 2019, according to the affidavit.

“Upshaw sometimes stays late for dinner and has spent the night before,” the affidavit says. “Upshaw babysits approximately two to four times a week.”

On October 8, 2019, a TPD officer with the special victims unit conducted an interview with the victim and collected a rape kit, the affidavit says.

The affidavit says the victim told police “he just hurts me all the time,” and the victim identified Upshaw as “he.”

A TPD officer went to Upshaw’s home on October 8, 2019, to interview him and collect a DNA sample. Upshaw denied the allegations and claimed his DNA would not be found on the victim, and the victim’s DNA would not be located on him, the affidavit said.

The DNA samples were sent to the FDLE for analysis.

Several days after the incident, a more complete interview with the victim was attempted, but the victim did not want to talk about the incident and didn’t give any new information, the affidavit says. The next week, the victim’s mother reached out and told TPD her daughter was playing with stuffed animals as if they were having sex, the affidavit says.

When the victim was asked about what they were doing, she described the animals doing things from videos Upshaw had showed her, the affidavit says.

A warrant was issued for Upshaw’s arrest in April.

On Sunday, Upshaw was arrested on a charge of lewd or lascivious molestation of a victim under the age of 12. He is currently being held at the Leon County Jail.

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