CENTRALIA, IL — A 46-year-old Centralia man pleaded guilty Wednesday in Marion County Court to one of the lesser of four charges accusing him of beating his young stepson with a hunting arrow. William McClanahan was facing charges of Class 2 felony aggravated domestic battery, Class 3 felony aggravated battery of a child under the age of 13, misdemeanor casing a child to be endangered and misdemeanor battery in connection with a December 2020 incident. McClanahan pleaded guilty Wednesday to the misdemeanor battery in exchange for the other three charges being dismissed.

Centralia Police Chief Greg Dodson said after McClanahan’s arrest last year, that a local mail carrier brought in an 11-year-old boy he found out on Gragg Street. The boy reportedly said his stepdad had kicked him out of the house. Around the same time, the boy was telling officers what had happened, McClanahan called the police department and said the child was a runaway. Officers then questioned McClanahan who admitted throwing the child out of the home, saying the boy had been “misbehaving.” The Department of Children and Family Services was called in and during an interview with the boy were told McClanahan had beaten him with the shaft of a hunting arrow. Inspection of the child reportedly revealed bruises all over his body consistent with being beaten with an arrow.

The boy and one other child of the home in the 600 block of South Elm Street in Centralia were taken into protective custody. McClanahan was sentenced to two years probation, must abstain from drug and alcohol use with random testing, must attend anger management and pay $50 a month in fines and fees.