Nicholas Cherry

Nicholas Cherry, 19, , faced upgraded charges of neglect of a dependent in the death of 11-month-old Kandon Allen Riley, the son of Cherry's girlfriend Brittany McCready, also 19. Cherry had been charged Thursday with a Class B neglect felony, but the charge was amended Friday to a more serious Class A felony after Kandon died of shaken baby syndrome at University of Chicago Children's hospital Thursday afternoon. Cherry faces up to 50 years in prison in the baby's death. Police say Cherry injured the baby at the home he shared with McCready while McCready bowled with her weekly bowling league Wednesday night. Cherry did not admit to shaking the baby until a second interview by detectives. He said he shook Kandon because the baby started crying after Cherry became upset with him. Cherry earlier said he fed Kandon, then gave him a bath where the baby hit his head, but did not cry. He told police he let the baby crawl around a while then put him to bed. When McCready came home she checked on her son and saw that his eyes were rolled back in his head. She called an ambulance and the baby was taken to Porter hospital, then airlifted to University of Chicago Hospitals where he died shortly before 5 p.m. Thursday. A social worker at the hospital said the baby had been diagnosed with shaken baby syndrome, with bleeding and pressure on the brain. He had a cranial pressure of 50, compared to a normal pressure of 10,