CULLMAN, Alabama -- A man charged with child abuse in the death of his girlfriend's year-old son punished the boy with hot sauce and held him underwater before he died, according to The Cullman Times.

Hoss Wayne Benham died March 11 on his first birthday after his mother, Crystial Ballenger, 23, and her boyfriend, Jeffrey Brown, 37, took him to Cullman Regional when he wasn't breathing.

According to a sworn affidavit by a Cullman County Sheriff's Office investigator, the boy had bruises on his head and body, apparent burn injuries on his feet, cuts inside of his mouth and injuries consistent with sexual abuse, the Times reported. His death was ruled a homicide.

Ballenger told the investigator that Brown had given the boy Tabasco sauce to make him stop crying, and saw Brown holding Hoss underwater in the bathtub for 20 to 25 seconds, the Times reported. After Hoss was taken out of the bathtub, Brown attempted CPR and Hoss started to breathe, Ballenger told the investigator. He was put in bed and his breathing became abnormal. That's when he was taken to the hospital.

Brown and Ballenger are both charged with aggravated child abuse, according to the Times.