Baby-scalding investigation still ongoing

By Jake Palmateer
Staff Writer

September 05, 2008 04:00 am

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An alleged case of child abuse that left a 16-month-old girl with second-degree burns to her face is still being investigated.

The Otsego County Department of Social Services and the sheriff's department are each investigating the matter.

Otsego County District Attorney John Muehl said he is awaiting medical records to determine if additional charges are warranted against the girl's father, who is accused of pouring hot tap water onto her face Tuesday morning.

Lawrence Allen Painter Jr., 19, of Burlington Flats, was arrested late Tuesday night and charged with second-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

Painter is alleged to have burned his toddler daughter with hot tap water after he became upset with her while watching her at his home, Otsego County deputies said in a media release Wednesday. He was alone with the toddler, the release said.

"I don't know what the prognosis is, but they are pretty serious burns," Muehl said Thursday.

Both parents took the girl to the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital on Tuesday afternoon, and hospital officials became suspicious and notified authorities, Otsego County Sheriff Richard Devlin previously said.

The injuries, including a cut the girl sustained when she fell after being burned, were not life-threatening, Devlin said.

Devlin said Thursday that a Department of Social Services investigation and a criminal investigation by deputies are each continuing.

Painter remained in Otsego County jail Thursday on $25,000 bail and is scheduled to appear for a felony hearing Wednesday.

Neither Devlin nor Muehl said they knew if the baby has been discharged from Bassett.

Hospital spokeswoman Karen Huxtable said she could not release any information regarding the toddler.

Muehl said his assumption was that the girl was going to be returned to her mother upon her release from the hospital.

The girl shares her father's last name, while the mother has a different last name. The parents live together and have joint custody of the girl, Devlin said.