Blanton faces 14 counts of assault, endangerment

An Ironton man’s case will be going to the grand jury next week after he was accused of repeatedly physically assaulting a young boy.

Ironton Police detective Capt. Brian Pauley called the case “very disturbing.”

Shane C. Blanton, 38, of Ironton, has been charged with 14 felony charges, seven counts of child endangerment and seven counts of felonious assault. The charges are second-degree felonies and carry a sentence of 8-12 years each if there is a conviction.

Blanton is not related to the boy, rather the boy’s mother and Blanton had dated and he babysat the child.

Pauley said the victim is now three, but the assaults go back to when the child was two-years-old. 

“It is very disturbing,” Pauley said. “I’ve been doing this for 25 years and this was very disturbing to see what had taken place.

While Pauley said that the details of the assaults are not being released at this time, he clarified that the assaults were physical in nature, not sexual.

“Nothing has been found evidentiary as far as any type of sexual abuse,” Pauley said. “It is all physical at this point.”

Lawrence County Prosecutor Brigham Anderson said that he was notified of the case on April 5 and plans to prosecute Blanton to the fullest extent of the law.

“Blanton should have been protecting and caring for this child,” Anderson said. “I am taking this case very seriously and will be pursuing multiple indictments at the next grand jury hearing.”

The grand jury will meet on Thursday.

Pauley said the case began on the afternoon of April 5 after the IPD received a call from the Lawrence County Children Services about a child abuse case and need for law enforcement.

A patrol officer was sent and once they realized the severity of the case and called in the IPD detective bureau to investigate.

“Once we got there, we found evidence of child abuse that Shane Blanton had engaged in an assault,” Pauley said. It was the boy’s mother that found the evidence and called CPS. “We found enough evidence that we felt we would be able to charge him.”

Blanton was not there when officers arrived.

He was arrested around 3:45 p.m. in Coal Grove by Coal Grove Police Chief Bill Murphy. The IPD had notified the CGPD earlier in the afternoon to be on the lookout for Blanton and gave a possible location.

Officers went to the location, but left. They returned after Blanton was spotted leaving the apartment.

Blanton was found walking down Grove Street by Murphy, who told him to stop. Instead, Blanton ran and Murphy pursued. Murphy told him to stop again and if he didn’t he would be TASERed. 

Blanton fell down and Murphy handcuffed one of Blanton’s wrists. He had Blanton stand and tried to cuff his hands in the front.

According to a CGPD police report written by Murphy, “Shane began to pull away from me and struck me in the throat with the palm of his hand. I took Shane to the ground; Shane was saying he couldn’t breathe and needed an ambulance.”

Another officer arrived and tried to handcuff Blanton. IPD arrived on the scene and assisted with handcuffing the suspect.

An ambulance was sent to the scene and Blanton’s vitals were checked and then he was taken to St. Mary’s in Ironton. 

Blanton was cited for resisting arrest-causing physical harm to law enforcement officer and assault.

Blanton is being held in the Lawrence County Jail.

Pauley said the investigation is still ongoing and Blanton’s phone has been sent to Ohio Narcotics Information Center to be analyzed.

“So there may be more charges forthcoming if there is anything on that phone,” Pauley said.