Arkansas woman sentenced to prison for scalding child

PARAGOULD, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after she was convicted of battery for scalding her young step-granddaughter.

Prosecutor Scott Ellington says 38-year-old Angela Engeron of Paragould was convicted Wednesday of first-degree battery. Ellington says Engeron was arrested in January 2018 after the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline received a call about a 3-year-old girl who had suffered burns after she was held in scalding water.

Authorities say the child had burns to more than 40 percent of her body. A police report says the girl’s injuries were consistent with “immersion burn and non-accidental trauma.”

Ellington says jurors deliberated for less than an hour before convicting Engeron, who received the maximum sentence for first-degree battery.