Gang member arrested, accused of child abuse in Collier County

A criminal gang member was arrested for child abuse in Collier County.

According to the arrest report, Andre Navas, 22, was arrested on charges of child abuse without great bodily harm on Aug. 10.

On Aug. 9 Collier County deputies received photos of a child with horizontal purple marks on their left cheek and a picture of Navas.

There were text messages between Navas and a woman about the marks on the child’s face, according to the report.

One text from Navas said, “Hit his face on the bed.”

The woman said those marking, swelling and bruising weren’t consistent with the child hitting his face on a bed.

Navas responded asking what she was implying and that he’d put ice on the child’s face.

Navas also said he wasn’t in the room to see how the child got those markings.

The woman asked for pictures three times of the bed the child allegedly hit their face on, but Navas never sent them.

She said that the marks look like a hand print.

On Aug. 10 the woman told deputies she wanted to press charges, the report states.

According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, a medical examination was done on the child’s face at the Children’s Advocacy Center and there were positive findings for physical abuse.

Navas agreed to speak with a deputy at the sheriff’s office. At that time the deputy informed Navas that it was determined he struck the child hard enough to leave the marking and was placed under arrest and transported to the Naples County Jail.

Navas is a documented criminal gang member in Collier County.