Kener Zepeda, a 19-year-old man from Chelsea, Massachusetts, is facing serious allegations of child abuse involving his 2-year-old son and his nephew. He has been charged with 12 counts, including two counts of assault and battery upon a child with serious bodily injury, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon on a child under 14, and multiple counts of reckless child endangerment. The charges stem from two separate incidents; the first occurred on March 12, when police were called to a domestic violence report. A woman alleged that Zepeda burned her son with a cigarette lighter, leaving a burn the size of a nickel on the child's back. In a subsequent incident in April 2026, Zepeda was accused of assaulting his nephew, which was captured on video by the child's mother. The footage reportedly showed Zepeda violently throwing the child onto a bed and covering his mouth and nose for 19 seconds. Following these incidents, Zepeda fled and was later arrested in Loudoun County, Virginia. He was ordered held without bail at his arraignment on Friday, pending a dangerousness hearing scheduled for May 28.