A former firefighter and paramedic for two local departments is facing more than a year behind bars after pleading guilty to violence and child endangerment charges. Some of the abuse was documented on video. Steven Hendrickson Jr. was working as a firefighter/paramedic for the Deerfield Township fire department in Warren County and Stonelick Township fire department in Clermont County. Hendrickson Jr. plead guilty to felony aggravated assault, child endangerment and domestic violence last week. He was previously indicted on five charges.Hendrickson Jr. resigned from Stonelick Township Fire Department within the last several months. He resigned from Deerfield Township Fire Department more recently, within the last several weeks. The department previously placed him on administrative leave. Exact dates were not immediately available Wednesday. Nicole Hempleman said her now ex-boyfriend wanted the two to appear happy to others and that nothing was going on between them. She gave birth to their baby girl last year."When he hit me, I looked down at Annabelle and I couldn't grow up letting her think that was normal," Hempleman said. "She would grow up thinking that is love, and that is not anywhere near close. You don't do that to somebody you love."She said Hendrickson Jr. hurt her and threatened her life on multiple occasions in their Clermont County home. She called 911 after an incident on October 7 and believes two incidents recorded on camera are the reason Hendrickson Jr. pleaded guilty. Her motion-censored surveillance camera caught Hendrickson Jr. knocking Hempleman's phone from her hand while she was in a pack and playing with their daughter. The video then appears to show him lifting Hempleman up and hitting her.The baby starts to cry, and Hempleman is seen on camera immediately calling 911. Court records said during that time, Hendrickson Jr. left the room and came back with a gun. Hempleman said she started documenting her abuse and took a video about a month earlier showing Hendrickson holding their baby and telling Hempleman to stop recording her."Put your phone away. I'm (expletive) holding the baby. Stop recording me. You're going to lose it," Hendrickson said. "Put it down. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."What happens next is too violent to show. Hempleman leaves the room with her phone still recording. Within six seconds, Hempleman screams and is then seen in a chokehold. "You don't understand what it's like unless you're there living it and the fear and the way that people get into your head," Hempleman said. "The feeling of getting out and getting mental help, going and getting therapy and all that stuff, it's so relieving. I'm a completely different person now. It turns you into something you're not."Hendrickson Jr. is set to be sentenced next month. He faces a maximum of a year and a half in jail. Hempleman was in court the day Hendrickson Jr. plead guilty."For so long he told me nobody is going to believe you. Nobody is gonna believe you. I'm a firefighter," Hempleman said. "Hearing that guilty plea, it was almost like I was finally heard."
A former firefighter and paramedic for two local departments is facing more than a year behind bars after pleading guilty to violence and child endangerment charges.
Some of the abuse was documented on video.
Steven Hendrickson Jr. was working as a firefighter/paramedic for the Deerfield Township fire department in Warren County and Stonelick Township fire department in Clermont County.
Hendrickson Jr. plead guilty to felony aggravated assault, child endangerment and domestic violence last week. He was previously indicted on five charges.
Hendrickson Jr. resigned from Stonelick Township Fire Department within the last several months. He resigned from Deerfield Township Fire Department more recently, within the last several weeks. The department previously placed him on administrative leave. Exact dates were not immediately available Wednesday.
Nicole Hempleman said her now ex-boyfriend wanted the two to appear happy to others and that nothing was going on between them. She gave birth to their baby girl last year.
"When he hit me, I looked down at Annabelle and I couldn't grow up letting her think that was normal," Hempleman said. "She would grow up thinking that is love, and that is not anywhere near close. You don't do that to somebody you love."
She said Hendrickson Jr. hurt her and threatened her life on multiple occasions in their Clermont County home.
She called 911 after an incident on October 7 and believes two incidents recorded on camera are the reason Hendrickson Jr. pleaded guilty.
Her motion-censored surveillance camera caught Hendrickson Jr. knocking Hempleman's phone from her hand while she was in a pack and playing with their daughter. The video then appears to show him lifting Hempleman up and hitting her.
The baby starts to cry, and Hempleman is seen on camera immediately calling 911. Court records said during that time, Hendrickson Jr. left the room and came back with a gun.
Hempleman said she started documenting her abuse and took a video about a month earlier showing Hendrickson holding their baby and telling Hempleman to stop recording her.
"Put your phone away. I'm (expletive) holding the baby. Stop recording me. You're going to lose it," Hendrickson said. "Put it down. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."
What happens next is too violent to show. Hempleman leaves the room with her phone still recording. Within six seconds, Hempleman screams and is then seen in a chokehold.
"You don't understand what it's like unless you're there living it and the fear and the way that people get into your head," Hempleman said. "The feeling of getting out and getting mental help, going and getting therapy and all that stuff, it's so relieving. I'm a completely different person now. It turns you into something you're not."
Hendrickson Jr. is set to be sentenced next month. He faces a maximum of a year and a half in jail. Hempleman was in court the day Hendrickson Jr. plead guilty.
"For so long he told me nobody is going to believe you. Nobody is gonna believe you. I'm a firefighter," Hempleman said. "Hearing that guilty plea, it was almost like I was finally heard."
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