Smith Co. Man Arrested On Child Abuse Charge

TBI agents arrested a Smith County man on a child abuse charge Thursday.

Ralph Mendez, 21, is accused of injuring his girlfriend’s four-year-old child. The child’s injuries were so severe, she had to be hospitalized at Vanderbilt’s Monroe Carrell Jr. Childen’s Hospital.

Mendez reportedly injured the child Sunday.

Thursday, agents charged him with one county of aggravated child abuse and booked him in the Smith County Jail on $100,000 bond.