5-year-old suffered 2nd-degree burns while forced to sit on heater as punishment: Harrisburg police

A Harrisburg woman is facing assault charges after police said she forced her girlfriend’s 5-year-old son to sit on a water heater because “she was mad at him,” according to an affidavit of probable cause.

According to the affidavit, the 5-year-old said his mother’s girlfriend Veronica Feight, 45, has kicked, punched, choked and threatened to kill him while his mother was not home.

On Nov. 2, 2019, the 5-year-old said Feight made him sit on the heater until it burned through his clothes and gave him second-degree burns on his thigh and buttocks, the affidavit said. The court documents accused Feight of telling the child to lie and say the burn was an accident.

A medical examiner from the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center said the burns were consistent with someone being forced to sit still on a hot surface, as opposed to pulling away after accidentally touching it, according to the affidavit.

The 5-year-old’s mother, 32-year-old Marybeth Mitchell, said Feight told her the burn was an accident, according to the affidavit. The affidavit said Mitchell did not take the child to the hospital, and instead put burn cream and hydrogel pads on it. A CVS pharmacist told her two weeks later that it appeared the burn was healing.

“[The 5-year-old’s] burn is consistent with physical abuse and the lack of medical care thereafter is consistent with medical neglect,” the affidavit said, citing the medical examiner.

Feight denied all of the allegations and maintained she found the 5-year-old crying in the bathroom after he backed into the radiator, the affidavit said.

When police asked the boy what happens when he gets in trouble at home, he said “Veronica hurts me very bad and puts me in an ice cold shower,” the affidavit said.

Mitchell is charged with endangering the welfare of children. Feight is charged with the same, as well as two counts of aggravated assault.