A Butler man was placed into the county Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program Monday, after being charged with assaulting a 12-year-old boy with a cell phone charging cord in May 2017.

Jeffrey L. Winters, 47, was placed into the program with 18 months' probation by Judge William Shaffer. He was also ordered to continue mental health treatment.

Butler police initially charged Winters with felony aggravated assault of a victim less than 13 years old and a misdemeanor count of child endangerment after an incident May 17, 2017, at a home in the 400 block of East Penn Street.

Police said Winters became angry with the boy for having a cell phone in his bedroom — something he was not permitted to do, and disciplined the child by lashing him, leaving welts on his back.

A tip through the ChildLine abuse hot line May 18, 2017, launched the investigation, police said. The report claimed Winters, who lives with his two sons, had beaten the victim the prior evening.

On May 22, 2017, the boy recounted the alleged abuse to a forensic interviewer with the Butler County Alliance for Children. He said that Winter got angry May 17, 2017, when he found a USB charger in his bedroom, according to court documents.

Winters then pulled the charger out of the electrical outlet and hit his son with it three or four times, police said, leaving the boy with four welts — two of which stretched across the boy's entire back from the right shoulder blade to the left side of his waist.

Winters admitted to whipping the boy, police said.

Assistant District Attorney Benjamin Simon told the court that the boy is now living in Minnesota with family.