A Butler man is accused of disciplining his 12-year-old son by lashing the boy with a cell phone charging cord, leaving the child with welts on his back, authorities said.

Jeffrey L. Winters, 46, was apparently angry with the boy for having a cell phone in his bedroom — something he was not permitted to have.

Butler police on Friday arrested Winters for felony assault in connection with the incident last month at the family's home in the 400 block of East Penn Street.

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

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

The defendant is accused of pulling the charging cable out of the electrical outlet and hitting his son with it.

“My dad whipped me in the back” three or four times, he told the interviewer.

“(He) described the pain as hurting like a 10 out of 10,” according to a police affidavit.

Police said the boy's older brother was in the room and corroborated the victim's account.

“(The sibling) described his brother crying as the worst he has ever heard,” the affidavit said.

He also recalled his father telling his brother, while beating him, that “the only way you will learn is through pain.”

The assault, police Detective Lt. Anthony Fatta said, left 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.

Fatta on May 25 interviewed Winters, who admitted to whipping his son with the 6-foot-long, looped cord, documents said.

“He stated that he struck his son with the cable because he was frustrated with (the boy's) actions,” the affidavit said. Specifically, he got mad when he discovered the boy had a phone in the room

He apologized to the detective for what he did.

Winters was arraigned on a felony charge of aggravated assault by a victim less than 13 years old and a misdemeanor charge of child endangerment. He if free on his own recognizance.

A preliminary hearing is set for June 26.