A brutal New Jersey father who forced his 6-year-old son to undergo grueling treadmill workouts, leading to his death, made the startling claim that he didn’t kill his son as he was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Friday.
Christopher Gregor, dressed in a green-and-white striped prison uniform, wept in court before the harsh sentence was handed down for the death of toddler Corey Micciolo on March 20, 2021, after he was forced to run on a treadmill as punishment.
The boy died on April 2nd.
“I did nothing on April 2nd to cause Corey’s death. I did not hurt my son. I loved him and still love him. I regret not taking him to the hospital sooner. I didn’t know how sick he was. I didn’t know. I just thought he was tired,” Gregor said.
The shocking video shows Gregor speeding up a treadmill at the Atlantic Heights Clubhouse fitness center, sending Corley flying off and falling six times – allegedly because Gregor thought Corley was overweight.
Two weeks later, on April 2, Corey woke up from a nap feeling nauseous, staggering and slurring his words.
Chilling security camera footage from that day showed Gregor carrying the boy’s limp and bruised body to Southern Ocean Medical Center in Hackensack, where he died moments before the boy died.
According to the testimony of William Doyle, a registered nurse on duty at the time, the child had his head tilted back in the examination room and “showed no signs of speech.”
The injuries were so severe that Corey suffered a seizure while undergoing a CT scan, forcing medical staff to carry out emergency treatment.
But officials failed and the child was pronounced dead shortly before 5 p.m.
A subsequent autopsy revealed that the boy had suffered blunt force trauma to the chest and abdomen, as well as lacerations to his liver and heart.
In May, Gregor was found guilty by a jury of endangering the welfare of a child and manslaughter, acquitted of the murder charge. Gregor could have received a sentence of 30 years to life in prison for the murder.
Judge Guy Ryan imposed the sentence after the child’s mother asked for the toughest possible sentence.
“He has no remorse for what he did. He only feels remorse because he was caught and convicted,” the boy’s mother, Breanna Micholo, said in court.
“Everything he did to Corey was done out of spite for me. The other reason was that he was crazy and used Corey as a punching bag. He didn’t have any love for Corey. He was just a nuisance in his life,” she said.
“I can’t imagine what my son went through behind closed doors with this man,” she added.
Judge Ryan sentenced Gregor to 20 years in prison for manslaughter and five years for child endangerment.
Gregor’s lawyers argue the child died of an infection, but medical experts have concluded he died from blunt force trauma.
