A Dalton man is accused of inappropriately touching a 14-year-old girl before he slapped her mother in the family’s home late Wednesday evening. 

Maurice Antoine Patterson, 29, of Dalton was charged early Thursday by the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office with battery (family violence), third degree cruelty to children (family violence) and child molestation. 

The 14-year-old girl and a12-year-old boy both said they witnessed Patterson attacking their mother. The girl told the deputy that before that happened, Patterson came up to her while her mother was not present and hugged her and touched her “in a sexual manner,” according to the report. 

Patterson received a $10,000 bond during a Magistrate Court first appearance on Thursday.