Boyfriend Linked to Beating of Twins Is Caught in Nevada

Charles Thomas McCoy, wanted in connection with the beating of two toddlers found wandering the halls of a Del Mar hotel, was arrested Thursday in Nevada, the Sheriff’s Department announced.

McCoy, 27, was arrested at the Edgewater Hotel in Laughlin--about 75 miles south of Las Vegas--just two days after he checked into the hotel, said Lt. Bob Trevino, of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

McCoy checked in Tuesday as James T. Wagner, then re-registered the next day as John Garner and moved into a new room, Trevino said.

When Las Vegas police and hotel security personnel, arrested McCoy, they found a .38-caliber semi-automatic handgun and a pound of a white, powdery substance, Trevino said. McCoy was arrested on suspicion of possession of a concealed weapon, possession of a controlled substance and a felony child-abuse warrant.

It was not known why Las Vegas police made the arrest or how they knew of McCoy’s whereabouts. The mother of the battered 2-year-old twins was arrested March 27 on charges of felony child abuse when she tried to visit her sons at Children’s Hospital in San Diego. Dorothy Denise DeSimone, 25, of Oceanside is being held in the County Jail at Las Colinas in lieu of $100,000 bail.

DeSimone has denied any role in the abuse of the children, who were found March 25 in Del Mar. They suffered severe bruises and cigarette burns on their stomachs and sides, authorities said. Both children were sexually abused, but DeSimone claimed that the abuse was at the hands of her boyfriend, McCoy.