The teenager who was arrested Monday in Clovis for the Saturday death of 4-month-old Christopher Valdez told police he gave the crying baby Tylenol to calm him down, the Clovis News-Journal reported on its Web site.

The 16-year-old, whose name has not been released, is being held in the Curry County Juvenile Detention Center on charges of negligent child abuse resulting in death, tampering with evidence and obstructing a child-abuse investigation, according to police records cited by the News-Journal.

If tried and convicted as a juvenile, the youth could face a maximum of two years, but he could face life if tried as an adult, 9th Judicial District Attorney Matt Chandler told the News-Journal, but Chandler told the paper he hadn't decided whether to prosecute the suspect as an adult.

According to police reports, the baby's 19-year-old mother told police the baby fell from a couch while the mother was sleeping and began crying. The mother also told police the baby was crying for about 30 minutes when he turned white, after which she called her mother and emergency workers were alerted, the paper reported.

Meanwhile, the 16-year-old told police he was in the bathroom when the baby began crying and gave him Tylenol to calm him down, according to the News-Journal.

Authorities, however, wouldn't comment on the cause of the child's death or how much Tylenol the baby had consumed, saying the investigation was ongoing -- and that some questions would be resolved by an autopsy, the paper reported.

No other arrests have been made in connection with the case, the News-Journal said.

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