MASON CITY – A Mason City man turned himself into police after he was accused of punishing a child using a “scalding hot shower”.
Mason City police tell NIT that an allegation of child abuse was investigated and ultimately acted up on by authorities. They say it is alleged that on March 26, 2025, 37-year-old Travis Michael Gordon “intentionally placed a minor child in a scalding hot shower as a form on punishment. The extended exposure to the scalding water burned and blistered the young child’s bottom. The incident occurred in Mason City.”
An arrest warrant was issued for Gordon’s arrest on April 27, 2025, for child endangerment, a class D felony. Gordon turned himself in to the Cerro Gordo county jail on November 4, 2025.
Gordon (pictured at top) was held on $5,000 cash-only bond. He now awaits a preliminary hearing set for November 14.
20 thoughts on “Mason City man accused of punishing child using scalding hot shower”
Lock him up! I hear he is the nicest guy in the world, until he gets upset.
Crazy how Nora Spring Care Center is still running.. First a felon as a maintenance man and then this… but since they are all related to Shana O’Connor – HR it’s okay, right? If they were to apply any where else though probably not okay. And for everyone that works with this man saying its not true or you’ve known the family forever. No one truly knows a person or what happens behind closed doors. If Nora Springs is willing to cover this up, Child abuse/torture/cruelty, what are they willing to cover up to make there care look good with our dependent adults?? I also find it flabbergasting that the head leaders are defending this man when he hasn’t even been to trail yet… if he’s found guilty I hope the Administer, DON, and HR all feel dumb for making their employees sign a card to send to him/his family. The whole place needs to be looked into nothing but bad news at that Care Center, USED to be one of the best… Not so much anymore when they hire anyone and everyone, even felons to do their work for them. And if he is found guilty and gets to keep his job I hope all the family members know that their loved ones are getting transported to their appointments by a felon, alone in a van with him for however long. I feel all the family members should know that. Maybe they can post it in a news letter or something just to keep the families informed.
Slander… shame on all of you. Karma is a bitch. If you all were so worried about this you would see he turned himself in and was not arrested at work. I personally have know this family for years and they would all give you the shirt off their backs.
You must of flunked law school. This is not slander
It is slander!! Get the facts before you write shit. That headline get people ti look at it more? Well it’s wrong jerks.
Idiot..
Slander is the act of making false, spoken defamatory statements, while libel is the act of making false, written defamatory statements. The key difference is the medium: slander is spoken, and libel is written or published in a more permanent form, such as a newspaper article, social media post, or blog.
Really. This is the accusation, however you want to scream and spin things.
This is ridiculous! I don’t know where you get your information but it’s wrong. Whoever wrote this should be ashamed and sued for false accusations and defamation of character. He is the nicest man you’ll ever meet and loves with his whole heart. All this BS is hurting him so much I pray this nightmare will end and everything will be ok
I also know this man and they should be more worried about why dhs let him live back at home from April to Nov if they were worried about the children’s safety, he was approved to go back home so he assumed everything was fine. You should probobly get the whole story before u publish things but your not really looking out for anybody are u just looking for people to follow this ridiculous shit, I hope he sues you .
The public has a right to know why a person is on jail, and general circumstances surrounding the incident. A lot was left out to protect the alleged victim.
Amen
Nice or not, police pursued charges. A judge can decide guilt or innocence.
It is shameful. He should be in prison. He should never have contact with that child agin.
Dhs gave him permission to be home from Aug til Nov, if they knew they were gonna find him guilty of that why would they let him move back in, what’s really going on here, that’s how the government is in this whole town, look at our new mayor publicly announces he hates all gays nice town we live in.
This is false guaranteed. I have known him my whole life… nicest man you will ever meet.
I hear Jeffrey Dahlmer was also a “nice” guy.
This man works for the nora springs care center.
No longer im sure!
His mother in law Shana O’Connor is the DON at the Nora spring care center where he was on the clock working the day he was arrested!! That whole family pretty much works there and are close with the management. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is swept under the rug while he still has a job working with dependent adults.
That family truly is disturbing and all need to be investigated for trying to cover this up
Shana is HR not DON even worse!