Knoxville, TN (WOKI) A convicted Knoxville sex offender is now facing child abuse charges.
According to charging documents, 37-year-old William Gilbert was arrested and charged last Wednesday with aggravated child abuse after officers responded to a home on River Poppy Road for a welfare check.
Upon arrival, officers found a child in the back of an ambulance with “significant swelling and bruising” along his face and forehead. The child also had a retinal hemorrhage and petechiae on his face, the police report said.
According to police, a witness said Gilbert had chased the child and pushed his face into the ground outside. The child told officers Gilbert had hit him in the past.
Through a records search, police confirmed that Gilbert was an active sex offender and that his previous conviction had involved the same child.
