Greene County man to serve probation, house arrest for assault, drugging of 2-year-old

The lawyer for a Greene County man who pleaded guilty to a brutal assault of a 2-year-old Derry boy in 2016 told a judge on Friday his client was the most “damaged” person he’s ever represented.

Defense attorney Gary Gerson said Cory Andrew Kuntz, 28, was a victim of sexual and physical abuse and was eventually abandoned as a child. Ongoing mental health issues ultimately led to his actions in which police said he beat and drugged the young son of a former live-in girlfriend, he said.

“He’s never had any support or love until recently,” Gerson said.

Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani ordered Kuntz to serve a mitigated 10-year probation sentence that included 18 months on house arrest. As part of the plea bargain, prosecutors waived a mandatory five-year prison sentence and said standard sentencing guidelines called for Kuntz to receive 6 to 14 months in jail.

Kuntz, in May, pleaded guilty a felony count of aggravated assault of a child and a misdemeanor offense of child endangerment. Police said Kuntz was left alone to watch child in April 2016 when the boy’s mother went to work. She returned seven hours later and found the child injured, police said.

In court on Friday, Assistant District Attorney Judi Petrush said Kuntz’s attack left the child with numerous bruises on his face and body.

“There were so many bruises it put his organs at risk,” Petrush said.

According to court records, investigators said child’s blood was tested and the hospital when he was treated for his injuries and was found to be positive for the presence of methylenedioxyamphetamine, or MDA, a hallucinogenic stimulant that is closely related to ecstasy.

Petrush did not ask for a specific sentence but said she supported the child’s family members who in written comments submitted to the judge asked that Kuntz be jailed for his crimes.

“The very least he can do is jail time,” wrote the boy’s grandmother.

Kuntz has been free on $30,000 bond since December 2016, about a month after he was arrested.

The judge said he struggled in crafting an appropriate sentence and ultimately determined Kuntz needed prolonged mental health treatment and ordered him to continue with ongoing care.

“Mental health does not minimize what you did here,” Feliciani said.

Kuntz was ordered to live in a Greene County home he shares with a friend but will be permitted visits with his new wife, who he married last September. She is now pregnant with his child. His wife also has a 4-year-old son, whom Kuntz will also be allowed to see.