CAMDEN COUNTY, Ga. — One day after a judge denied the state of Georgia’s request to terminate the parental rights of Corey and Diana Sullivan and ordered a 6-month reunification plan, Corey Sullivan is facing a new battle.
In December, he was arrested and charged with aggravated battery and cruelty to a child.
As he sat in a juvenile courtroom on the third and final day of his termination of parental rights hearing, a grand jury in another courtroom convened to decide on the criminal charges he faces. He was indicted on eight counts, four counts of aggravated battery with family violence, and four counts of cruelty to children in the first degree. Sullivan pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday and renewed his call for a speedy trial. His attorney says they will be ready for trial in October and hopes the District Attorney will be too.
The charges stem from October 2023, when the Sullivans took their baby, who was three months old, to the hospital for a swollen leg. Doctors at Wolfson Children’s Hospital determined she had multiple fractures, and the First Coast Child Protection Team was called in to investigate. The Sullivan had their twin babies and their oldest daughter who was three at the time removed from their custody.
According to the indictment, Corey Sullivan is accused of causing his daughter to have a liver laceration and fractures to her femur, multiple ribs, and her arm. Corey Sullivan denies ever abusing his daughter, and he and his wife believe a medical condition caused her injuries.
“I think the evidence that was already presented shows she was medically fragile, essentially, has a metabolic bone disease and there were numerous risk factors that contributed to that that has already been proven,” Diana Sullivan said. “Normal handling could have caused Injury and prior to that we had no idea. She never showed signs of discomfort or pain or bruising until that one morning when we took her to the hospital for swelling.”
All three of their children were born by IVF and the Sullivans testified in juvenile court they spent upwards of $70,000 on fertility treatments and have spent more than $100,000 in legal expenses fighting to regain custody of their children.
“It would be hard to prove something that didn’t happen,” Corey Sullivan said Wednesday before learning he had been indicted. “Even when the indictment comes, if it does come, I will have no problem in Superior Court proving my innocence through the medical evidence.”
First Coast News reached out to District Attorney Keith Higgins Office for comment but have not yet heard back.