29-year-old Timothoes Powell was taken into custody and booked on child abuse charges earlier in October -- all because he allegedly tried snipping his 2-year-old relative's penis while babysitting him down in Daytona Beach ... this according to the local authorities.

Here's how cops are saying it went down ... Powell was watching his young cuzzo while the kid's parents were away -- and mom and dad got a call from their nephew at one point saying he had to rush their son to the hospital because he was bleeding from his crotch.

As it turns out ... the child appeared to have been cut, and when asked about this -- Powell reportedly told police glass must've been in the little one's diaper. Upon further questioning, however, Powell reportedly said he may have pulled the baby's foreskin down too hard while trying to clean him. Of course, cops weren't buying that -- 'cause nurses said it looked like a clean cut and was far too precise to be any sort of accident like the one he described.

Cops ended up arresting with some other evidence they say they recovered -- including home surveillance footage which supposedly shows Powell acting mean to the kid ... and allegedly walking away from the boy at one point with an object in his hand. Investigators believe he may have attempted to deliberately circumcise his cousin ... and now, he's in trouble.