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Judge Dennis E. Reinaker told Itza Figueroa-Saez she was given the break of a lifetime when a jury Monday acquitted her of felony aggravated assault, which carried a potential 20-year prison sentence. The jury convicted Figueroa-Saez of misdemeanor reckless endangerment. Thursday morning, Reinaker handed down the maximum prison sentence for that misdemeanor — 1 to 2 years in prison, minus one day.
"I don't know that I've ever seen, and I hope I never do see, a case before me that is as despicable as this one," Reinaker told the 23-year-old defendant. "The jury in this case cut you the biggest break you'll ever get in your life.
"If you'd been convicted of (aggravated assault), you would be going to prison for a very long time, which, in my mind, is exactly where you should be."
According to trial testimony, the Lancaster city woman placed her son in a scalding shower after he was acting "fussy." The woman left the bathroom to check on her other children, and when she returned the boy had blisters, and his skin was peeling off his back, according to investigators.
The boy, who now lives with foster parents, requires ongoing medical treatment. Reinaker criticized Figueroa-Saez for not inquiring about her son or his foster parents since the boy was taken from her after the incident.
After the shower, Figueroa-Saez didn't call 911; her boyfriend did, according to testimony. When police questioned the couple, the mother never asked how her son was doing. The toddler was treated at Lancaster General Hospital then transferred to Crozer-Chester Medical Center's burn unit.
"Children are gifts that we're given. They're not status symbols. They're not personal possessions," Reinaker said. "They come into our care with the responsibility we have as parents to look after them … not to inflict injuries like this on them."
Figueroa-Saez has four other children, none of whom live with their mother, who was eight months pregnant at the time of the scalding incident.
At Thursday's sentencing, she read, through an interpreter, a letter to the court. In the letter, she mentions her own suffering from not being allowed to be with her son and fears she'll never see him again.
The 3-year-old victim's foster mother also made a statement in court, in which she said the boy is "happy and healthy and beautiful."
"But there are some things," Iris Kresge said, "that I will never be able to change for him. He will always be a burn victim. He will always be just a little bit different from all of his friends.
"And the hardest part is he will always have to face those questions. He's going to have to face, 'Mommy, why? What's wrong with me? Why am I burned? What happened to me?' "
E-mail: bhambright@lnpnews.com
