An Alabama man was arrested last week after being accused of trapping a young child in a clothes dryer on multiple occasions — and sometimes turning the machine on, authorities said.

Steven Garret Todhunter, 25, allegedly put a child under 6 years old inside the dryer at his Alabaster home and pinned the door shut with a chair numerous times between May 2017 and May 2018, police said.

The abuse went unreported until September 2018, authorities said.

“It’s painful,” Paul Johnson of the Alabaster police told Birmingham FOX affiliate WBRC-TV. “Sometimes we see things in this line of work that no one should see. When someone hurts a child it hurts me as a father.”

Todhunter was also accused of sticking the child inside a washing machine, states a warrant obtained by the station. He allegedly threatened to turn that machine on, too, telling the child “the water is going to be very hot.”

The child hasn’t been identified, but records show Todhunter has a 3-year-old son, Alabama Live reported.

Todhunter was charged with aggravated child abuse and domestic violence, the media outlet reported. He was released the day after his arrest when he posted $20,000 bond.