Lynchburg woman sentenced in child-neglect case
Published: September 27, 2009
LYNCHBURG -- A Lynchburg mother has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for neglecting her severely burned son for nearly a week.
The incident sparked a manhunt after the 5-year-old blamed his mother's former boyfriend of bending him backward over a tub of scalding water.
Faith Loftin, 30, pleaded guilty in June to felony child neglect. Photos of the boy's back submitted as evidence showed his burned skin peeling away "like paper," senior Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Janell Johnson said.
Six days after the boy was burned, a worker at an after-school program noticed the boy's absence and came by the house to check on him, according to testimony in an earlier hearing.
After seeing the burns, the woman called authorities.
Johnson said the boy spent the next week in hospitals, where he was treated for second-degree burns to as much as 19 percent of his body.
Loftin's lawyer, Tara Wyant, said Loftin has been diagnosed with schizophrenia as well as bipolar and personality disorders. Loftin was off her medication when the boy was burned, Wyant said.
Reader Reactions
Why do we allow this to be an excuse for any parent? My God! Why do we allow this? Thank goodness for the child’s teacher. What a blessing that someone cared enough about this child to check in .....
I certainly hope the boyfriend is being prosecuted for child abuse.
This little child should not have been in put in a situation where the mother is evidently alone taking care of him. It sounds like if she had taken her medication- MAYBE it would not have happened. HOWEVER- it was the SORRY boyfriend who hurt him. It was an EXTREMELY ABUSIVE act- which might have occurred no matter what shape she was in-but NO MOTHER should have let that happen! I do not think the courts should give this child back to her- he is probably terrified- I would be! She has serious issues and the end result if it happened again could be deadly.
I don’t want to start a movement or anything but once a person is diagnosed with disorders of uncontrollable emotional and physical limitations IS IT SAFE FOR A CHILD, ANY CHILD TO BE LEFT IN THEIR CUSTODY??? Here we have a cut and dry case that this mother has been medically deemed UNFIT in my opinion to make sound judgement calls and PRESTO…we have a child who was severely burn and neglected….DOES ANYONE ELSE SEE THIS PICTURE????
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