FAYETTEVILLE — Two women pleaded guilty Friday to permitting the abuse of an 11-year-old special needs child who suffered burns to his lower body while in their care.
Sharanda Leann Hammock, 28, and Cecily Marie Sharp, 23, pleaded guilty in Washington County Circuit Court to permitting the abuse of a minor and being accomplices to first-degree domestic battery. Under the plea bargain, each was sentenced to 20 years at the Arkansas Department of Correction with eight years suspended.
Both were given credit for one day jail time served. They are to have no contact with the child, who is in state custody.
Hammock and Sharp were state-certified foster parents providing care for the boy when he was burned from the waist down in a bathtub in November. Prosecutors said the two then failed to seek medical treatment for the child.
“That little kid is going to carry those scars for the rest of his life,” Mieka Hatcher, deputy prosecutor, said. “This makes sure these women will never have another foster child in their care again.”
Hammock and Sharp had maintained the burning was accidental. They had been scheduled for trial next week.
Hammock told police in November the boy received burns to his legs and genital area from a bath. She said Sharp boiled water on the stove because of a lack of hot water from doing laundry and poured the water into the bathtub. Hammock said the boy got into the bathtub and she heard more water running into the tub. Shortly afterward, she heard a commotion. She went to the bathroom and saw the boy partly hanging over the side of the bathtub and he was saying the water was hot.
Police interviewed Hammock and Sharp and said the two accounts didn't match and Hammock’s story wasn't consistent with the injuries.
The boy’s therapist found burns to his lower legs during an appointment.
Both Hammock and Sharp are being allowed to report to jail June 10.