Man Accused of Strangling Child in College Township

Police on Wednesday accused a State College area man of strangling and assaulting a four-year-old child in College Township.

The boy disclosed the alleged incidents after Christopher L. Cicchino, 38, was arrested in April on separate charges, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by State College police.

During an interview at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Centre County, the child described being strangled or hit by Cicchino on three occasions sometime between August 2023 and April.

He told a forensic interviewer that during one incident Cicchino threw him on a bed, punched him in the stomach, put his hand on the child’s throat to prevent him from breathing, then put a pillow over his face, police wrote.

The child also recalled another occasion in which Cicchino held him up against a bathroom wall by his throat, according to the affidavit. In the third incident, Cicchino allegedly struck the child in the face with an open hand.

A relative showed police a picture taken in December 2023 of what was thought to be a rash on the boy’s face, which eventually went away. A doctor who examined the photo said the rash was actually petechiae, or small spots formed by bleeding capillaries, and was consistent with strangulation, police wrote.

Cicchino was charged with two felony counts of strangulation, one felony count of endangering the welfare of a child and three misdemeanor counts of simple assault.

He was arraigned by District Judge Casey McClain, who set bail in the case at $25,000. Cicchino is detained at the Centre County Correctional Facility, having been denied bail on the previous charges.