Police say a Logan County man put a 6-year-old girl in a headlock, choked her and punched her.
Seth Aaron Browning, 28, of Switzer, is charged with battery, according to a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.
The incident occurred between July 31 and Aug. 2.
Kanawha County sheriff's deputies responded to a disturbance on Church Drive in Rand on Aug. 3. They were told Browning had threatened to harm young girls.
The 6-year-old girl was interviewed at the Child Advocacy Center at Women and Children's Hospital on Tuesday.
She told the interviewer Browning had put her in a headlock, choked her and punched her in the stomach, according to the complaint.
Police say the girl had told her mother, Holly Rowland, about the assault.
Rowland told police she confronted Browning and he admitted to the attack.
Sgt. Brian Humphreys, spokesman for the Kanawha County Sheriff's Office, said Browning is a friend of Rowland, but not a boyfriend. He said Detective S.D. Ferrell, the investigating officer, did not want to discuss a motive for the attack.
Browning was still listed as an inmate at South Central Regional Jail on Friday. A magistrate had set bail at $5,000.