A suspect arrested for assault on a child pleaded not guilty to child cruelty in court today.

Kern County Sheriff’s deputies responded to Mercy Southwest Hospital Sunday afternoon after hospital staff informed them a child was in critical .condition

The child suffered from skull fractures as well as bleeding and swelling to the brain. The one-year-old is in serious but stable condition.

The mother reported that she left the child in the care of 26-year-old acquaintance Richard Graham at a Super 8 in Buttonwillow.

Graham was arrested based on evidence gathered during an investigation by KCSD.

The child was taken to Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera.