Florida Man Charged With Hate Crime After Allegedly Beating A Five-Year-Old For Being Gay
A 33-year-old Florida man has been charged with aggravated child abuse with a hate crime enhancement after police allege he beat a five-year-old boy because he believed the child was gay.
Andre Brown Jr., of Davenport, Florida, was arrested on Sunday, 3 May 2026, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release reported by ClickOrlando. He also faces a resisting arrest charge.
How a nine-year-old girl raised the alarm
The case began with a text message. A nine-year-old girl in Brown’s care messaged her mother to say she was frightened.
“I’m scared, he’s whooping him so hard, I’m scared,” the girl wrote, according to the sheriff’s office. Her mother contacted authorities, and deputies began interviewing the children.
Three children were in Brown’s care that day. The five-year-old boy, the nine-year-old girl, and another boy.
What deputies allege Brown said and did
Investigators say Brown grew angry with the five-year-old “for being gay” and slammed him to the ground multiple times. He then allegedly struck all three children with a belt. All three had marks consistent with belt injuries, but the five-year-old’s were the most severe, the sheriff’s office said.
When questioned, Brown reportedly admitted he hit the boy because he believed the child was gay. He told deputies, the release states, that he wanted to “beat the gay out of him if possible, but since it wasn’t possible he would beat him more.”
The charges and what happens next
Brown is now charged with aggravated child abuse with a hate crime enhancement and resisting arrest. Court records do not show a plea. His arraignment is scheduled for June.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd was blunt. “This was a brutal and hateful attack on a defenseless child,” he said. “There is absolutely no excuse for it. We will make sure justice is served and these children get the safety and support they deserve.”
Why this case matters beyond Florida
A five-year-old does not have a sexual orientation in any meaningful sense. What the alleged perpetrator believed about the child is not the point. The point is that anti-gay bias was used as a reason to harm a small boy, and that the harm started before the child could even understand what was being projected onto him.
FBI hate crime data has consistently shown sexual-orientation bias as one of the largest single-bias categories in the United States, with anti-gay (male) bias the most common subcategory. At DNA, we report cases like this because the law calling it a hate crime is part of the reason allyship still matters.
If you suspect child abuse, contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline on 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453). Calls are free, confidential, and available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
