A 19-year-old Smithville man is charged with a sex crime against a five-month-old boy.

Brent Porter is charged in Clay County with statutory sodomy. In a court filing, a police detective says the baby was taken to Children’s Mercy Hospital for treatment of injuries and the mother said the youngster had been sexually molested.

According to the affidavit, Porter was caught in the act by the child’s mother.

The child’s 14-year-old mentally disabled brother was in the room at the time, but officials say he is severely disabled and non-verbal, and thus could not tell her what had happened.

Police later found Porter at his step-mother’s home, and took him into custody for questioning. The affidavit asserts that Porter was “…initially deceptive and claimed to have only been changing the baby’s diaper. The mother provided police with information contradicting that. She said there was no new, clean diaper present, that the diaper on the child was clean, and that Porter “never changes her children’s diapers.”

The mother also told police she heard the child screaming, “…a scream unlike she has ever heard” from the baby.

In the affidavit, police say Porter admitted having an erection and being “a little bit horny.”

The examination at Children’s Mercy was not conclusive. The nurse who conducted the exam said the child’s symptoms “…may be related to a medical condition, child sexual abuse, or another mechanism.” The nurse said more information was needed to make a determination. Police say additional evidence is being sent to a crime laboratory for analysis.

Porter appeared for an arraignment Monday.  A plea of not guilty was entered and the case was continued to April 25.  He remains behind bars on $400,000 cash only bail.