Bond reduced for dad accused of taping up daughter and posting pic
BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN Criminal Courts Reporter rhussain@suntimes.com January 27, 2012 5:08PM
Andre Curry's booking photo when he was arrested in December 2011 on aggravated domestic battery charges for posting a photo on Facebook of his daughter bound in tape.
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Updated: February 29, 2012 8:06AM
A Cook County judge Friday reduced the bond for a South Side man charged with battery for allegedly posting a photo of his daughter bound in tape on Facebook.
Andre Curry was expected to walk out of Cook County Jail as soon as his family could post ten percent of the $30,000 bail ordered by Judge Lawrence Flood, Curry’s lawyer Zachary Hamilton said.
The 21-year-old must still adhere to the conditions Judge Laura Sullivan set when she ordered him held in lieu of $100,000 last month, Flood said.
That means Curry cannot see his 23-month-old daughter, use the Internet or have contact with other minors.
Flood also tacked on an additional condition, telling Curry he can’t meet with his daughter’s mother as he awaits trials for the Dec. 13 incident.
“I’ll comply with everything you just said,” Curry, wearing an orange jumpsuit, told Flood.
Flood said even if Curry had posted the image of his child as a joke, it is a “serious offense.”
However, the judge also said if the Illinois Department of Family Services deems Curry fit to visit his girl, the father and daughter may be reunited before Curry’s legal issues are resolved.
Prosecutors said Curry restrained his daughter in blue adhesive tape when she was playing with the tape at his South Side residence.
Police reports indicate it was painter’s tape that circled the baby’s hands and feet. Tape was also put over her eyes.
After Curry put the controversial picture on his Facebook page, his Facebook “friends” from as far as Iowa, Michigan and Virginia called authorities, Assistant State’s Attorney Kathleen Muldoon said.
Curry also allegedly texted the picture to Yesmin Doss, the toddler’s’s mother, Muldoon said.
Curry, a waiter at Applebee’s, didn’t want to be an absentee father like his own dad and raised his daughter for the first two weeks of her life, Hamilton said.
Doss may have custody of the child but Curry has seen his daughter “religiously” every other week, Hamilton said.
Curry went out of state to live with his father for two months late last year when he was pressured by gang members to join them in their illegal activities. But he returned to Illinois because he “missed his daughter,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton noted that hospital examinations revealed the child didn’t suffer any injuries from the alleged Internet stunt.
After Friday’s hearing, Brandi Phillips said her son made “a mistake.”
“He didn’t do anything to harm this child. She was never hurt, never in danger. He just made a mistake,” she said.
Doss said Curry has never been a danger to the child.
As tears welled up in her eyes, the young mother said it was the “worst feeling” knowing she couldn’t have contact with Curry, but she also said she was happy he would soon be free.
“I’m just happy how things are going so far,” Doss said.
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