By Erika Hernandez
Apr 22, 2024, 16:31 PM EDT
A Maryland mother was sentenced to 25 years in prison and at least five years of probation for setting her 8-year-old son on fire. as punishment because he dirty the table while eating cereal.
The events occurred in a Germantown apartment in May 2020 when Kimberly Tyler, 31, took her son and put some alcohol in his hand and then set him on fire as punishment for dirtying the house. Flames spread from the child’s torso to his head, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
The boy suffered third-degree burns to his arm, chest and neck, as well as first- and second-degree burns to his face and upper body.. In total, 25% of his body had burns, according to information from prosecutors cited by Law & Crime.
“This was one of the worst we have seen when it comes to child abuse cases. The level of harm caused by someone in the highest position of trust, the child’s mother, is unfathomable. Our hearts go out to the young victim and to those who have now been entrusted with her care,” State Attorney John McCarthy said in a statement.
Instead of calling 911 or going to the hospital, Tyler called his parents, Kimball Tyler and Lisa Jones, who took the boy and treated his injuries at home. Although the couple pleaded with the mother for two weeks to take the child for medical attention, she ignored them.
“When people asked the defendant where the victim was, she simply told them that she was visiting her grandparents. During the two weeks that the victim was at Kimball and Lisa’s apartment, the defendant visited him once,” prosecutors said.
Finally, Kimball Tyler took his grandson to Children’s National Medical Center. By then, the boy was screaming in pain and his wounds had become infected and “pus was dripping from them.”
“His wounds smelled so bad that an infectious disease team was brought in to evaluate them. “She had multiple contractures in her lower and upper extremities, where the scars were so thick and shrunken that they limited the mobility of her joints,” prosecutors said.
Hospital staff suspected abuse and alerted Montgomery County police. The boy spent several months in the hospital and had to undergo several surgeries. According to prosecutors, his recovery would have been much easier if the defendants had taken him to the hospital immediately.
Kimball Tyler testified against his daughter and the trial and pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment. He received probation. While the defendant’s partner, Chareese Snorgrass-Tyler, pleaded guilty to child neglect and was sentenced to five years in prison.
A jury convicted Kimberly Tyler in December of first-degree child abuse and conspiracy to commit child neglect. On Friday, a judge sentenced her to 25 years in prison followed by five years of probation.
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