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Anthony Parra, Of Queens, Gets 10 Years In Prison For Scalding Girlfriend's Baby

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A Queens man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for scalding his girlfriend's infant daughter with boiling water because she wouldn't stop crying and refused her bottle.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said 21-year-old Anthony Parra of Jackson Heights was sentenced on Thursday. Parra had pleaded guilty to assault and endangering the welfare of a child in early March.

Parra was watching 11-month-old Raylin Castillo and her 2-year-old sister, Valerie. Prosecutors said Parra attempted to give baby Raylin a bottle, but put her in the shower for about 20 minutes when she refused. He then turned up the water temperature twice, prosecutors said.

When he saw that the baby's skin was getting red, Parra began scrubbing her with a sponge at which point her skin began to peel off.  Parra then poured a pan of "even hotter water from a faucet" onto the child's back while she was in the shower, the Queens DA said. Parra finally put cream and alcohol on the burns before taking her to the hospital.

The baby suffered first- and second-degree burns to 30 percent of her body and has suffered permanent scarring.

"Today's sentence is necessary to punish the defendant and to serve as a warning to others who would abuse a child," Brown said.

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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