Chelsea man facing assault charges for alleged violence against young children

A Chelsea man faces dozens of charges of violence toward two young children, according to prosecutors.

Keener Bautista Zepeda, 19, was charged with one count of assault and battery, two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a child under 14, three counts of assault and battery on a child with serious injuries, four counts of child endangerment, and two counts of strangulation or suffocation, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said. statement.

Bautista Zepeda was arraigned on Friday after being charged earlier in the week. He pleaded not guilty and was being held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing on May 28, according to court records.

On March 12, 2025, Chelsea Police spoke with the mother of one of Bautista Zepeda’s alleged child victims. She said he was her boyfriend and that he had pushed and punched her the night before, according to the district attorney’s office.

When Bautista Zepeda assaulted the mother, her 2-year-old child began crying. In retaliation, he allegedly used a cigarette lighter to burn the child on the upper back, leaving a mark the size of a nickel, prosecutors said.

On April 5, 2026, Revere Police responded to Boston Medical Center to investigate an assault involving another child. The 3-year-old girl’s mother told police that several weeks ago she noticed burn marks on her child’s arm that appeared to be caused by a hot fork, the district attorney’s office said.

The mother said Bautista Zepeda regularly took care of her child. She installed a camera in the child’s bedroom, and on April 3, around 11 a.m., the camera recorded his “violent assault” of the child, according to prosecutors.

The recording allegedly shows the child walking toward Bautista Zepeda with his “arms outstretched as if he were going to be picked up,” according to Allison Portnoy, assistant district attorney for Suffolk District. He then allegedly lifted the child with both hands above his head and forcefully threw the child onto the bed, causing the child to cry in pain. Bautista-Zepeda allegedly struck the child three times in the stomach with a closed fist.

“Bautista Zepeda then climbs on top of the child and places both hands over the child’s mouth and nose, bearing his weight on the child through his arms and holding the child by the neck,” Portnoy said. “The child was seen in the video struggling to breathe for approximately nineteen seconds while Bautista Zepeda held his hands over the child’s mouth and nose.”

When the boy’s mother confronted Bautista Zepeda, he fled the state and turned off his cell phone, according to Portnoy. He was found by authorities in Loudoun County, Virginia, earlier this month and taken into custody.

Bautista Zepeda’s attorney, Lumina Sato, was not immediately available for comment Sunday morning.

Suffolk County provides resources to survivors of child abuse and their non-offending caregivers, including services at the Suffolk County Child Advocacy Center and a specialized program, known as End Exploitation Support Now, to support victims of human trafficking. The Advocacy Center can be reached at 617-779-2146.

Anyone who believes a child in Massachusetts may be a victim of abuse can call the Department of Children and Families’ Vulnerable Children Hotline at 1-800-792-5200.