Last Wednesday, Tawiand Cleafton, a 31-year-old resident of St. Louis, Missouri, was charged with multiple offenses, including failure to register as a sex offender, child abuse, and two counts of domestic assault, according to the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. St. Louis County Police Department's official release states Cleafton, from the 10100 block of Baron Drive Avenue, is currently held on a $500,000 cash-only bond.
The legal requirement for registration stems from Cleafton's 2013 guilty plea to attempted forcible rape, he is considered non-compliant after neglecting to register with the Sex Offender Registration Office within the mandated three days of his release from incarceration on November 4, 2024, the St. Louis County Police Department specified in their statement.
In the same report, the authorities detail additional charges relating to domestic incidents, Cleafton is said to have assaulted his partner, identified only as ES, who was holding their baby at the time of the altercation, during which the child, referred to as ZC, sustained injuries from a fall and, subsequent, a brain bleed diagnosed after being admitted to Cardinal Glennon hospital.
The investigation, handled by the St. Louis County Police Department's Crimes Against Persons unit, revealed the defendant's aggressive confrontation with ES led to their child getting a black eye and the mother sustaining numerous visible injuries prompting neighbors to call law enforcement, outings that drew scrutiny to Cleafton's noncompliance with sex offender registration and further illuminated the dark tableau of domestic strife that has unfortunately enveloped this family, as detailed in the St. Louis County Police Department's press release.
