Crime & Public Safety
Police: Mother burned toddler son with cigarette while boyfriend laughed
By WPXI-Pittsburgh
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A mother and her boyfriend were arrested in Pennsylvania after doctors discovered burns on her 2-year-old son.
The boy’s sister told investigators their mother burned him with a cigarette, according to a criminal complaint obtained by WPXI.
Anna Russell, 19, and Enrique Soto, 25, face charges of assault and child endangerment in connection with the incident.
The criminal complaint states that when the boy’s grandmother brought him to Children’s Hospital in August, doctors found 15 burn marks on his face, chest, neck, back, left arm, left hand and both legs.
The paperwork says the doctor who examined the boy likened the incident to torture, telling investigators “each burn would represent an agonizingly painful event the child was experiencing.”
The boy’s 3-year-old sister told case workers she witnessed her mother burning her brother while her mother’s boyfriend “laughed the whole time.”
Russell and Soto remained in the Allegheny County jail Friday. The children were placed into foster care.
