A Potsdam couple is facing separate felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from two incidents of child abuse.

Potsdam Police say they received a call from New York Child Protective Services Thursday, March 4, informing that a faculty member at Lawrence Ave. Elementary School had reported a 5-year-old student with a black eye.

An officer went to the student's home and arrested Don M. Anson, 25, Potsdam, after he confessed to making a fist and striking the child in the eye the previous Monday.

Upon further examination of the other three children living in the home, police allegedly found a three-to-four inch welt on the lower back of a 4-year-old. Anson also admitted to whipping that child with a belt on the same day that police arrived to question him.

He was subsequently arrested on two felony counts of Assault in the Second Degree and released to probationary supervision.

Anson's fiance, Stacie M. Briggs, 23, Potsdam, was arrested and given court appearance tickets on March 5 for two misdemeanor counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child. Briggs allegedly knew of the two cases and gave both Child Protective Services and officers false accounts to harbor the abuses.

Lieutenant Edward F. Tischler of the Potsdam Police Department tells the Gouverneur Times it's "not too often" Potsdam Police make arrests for child abuse cases.

The couple is to appear in the Village of Potsdam Court at 9:30 a.m., Wednesday, March 10.