LOS ANGELES : Woman to Be Sentenced for Injuries to Toddler
A day-care center operator entered a surprise plea to a child abuse charge for allowing a toddler’s burns to go untreated for hours after her husband had plunged the girl into scalding water.
Kathryn Rodgers, who entered the plea after a second witness had testified against her, was not offered a plea bargain, Deputy Dist. Atty. Ryan Rainey said, and she could face up to six years in prison when she is sentenced on Jan. 11.
Prosecutors said her husband, Lemuel Rodgers, placed 2-year-old Kristen Williams in a tub of 130-degree water and held her there for a minute to punish her for soiling her pants. Lemuel Rodgers was sentenced last week to seven years in state prison for scalding the toddler.
Kristen suffered second- and third-degree burns over 47% of her body, and doctors initially did not expect her to live. She spent nearly two months in intensive care and underwent 16 operations.
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