SOMERSET, Pa. -- Police said a Somerset man draped a live snake around his 2-year-old son's neck, fed him hot sauce, and otherwise abused him for nearly a year.

Jason Flick, 27, is charged with aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children and related charges. He was arrested Friday and taken to the Somerset County Jail on $25,000 bond.

Authorities began investigating Flick when his son, Kaleb, was taken to Somerset Hospital on Sept. 30 with a skull fracture and broken leg.

Police said Flick told them the boy fell at his parents' home in a housing complex on Village Way. But doctors determined that the boy's injuries weren't consistent with a fall.

"They became immediately suspicious because of the types of injuries," said Chief Randy Cox of the Somerset Police Department. "Those are not usually the primary injuries that happen from a child falling down a set of stairs."

Police said the boy's abuse included being shot with an air "soft gun" that caused welts, being struck so hard that he lost his breath and having beer put in his "sippy cup."

The boy -- whose injuries appeared to be life-threatening, according to the police affidavit -- was then flown from Somerset Hospital to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh.

Flick is also accused of striking the child in the back of the head with a metal toy handgun with such force that the child was knocked to the ground, police said.

On more than one occasion, police said, Flick used a marker to draw derogatory things on the boy's body, including a penis on his face and various profanities on the rest of his body.

"I'm trying to figure out what exactly what was going on," said the boy's mother, Rogi Spangler, 19. "I don't really want to talk to anybody right now."

Police said they are investigating Spangler, but she has not been charged with any crime.

According to police, the child has been placed in foster care.

Court records show Flick has served prison time for criminal trespass and simple assault, and is charged with aggravated assault stemming from an incident at a Somerset bar earlier this year.

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