E. Pittsburgh father sentenced in torture of infant son

Medical issue delays mother’s sentencing

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

An East Pittsburgh man who participated in the torture of his now 2-year-old son, who was burned repeatedly with cigarettes, was sentenced Thursday to 38 to 76 months in jail.

The sentencing hearing for Enrique Soto, 25, was Thursday morning before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman. Sentencing for the mother of the child, Anna Russell, 20, was postponed due to a medical emergency.

The couple had pleaded guilty Oct. 25 to aggravated assault and related charges.

According to Lee Goldfarb, an assistant district attorney, the boy’s maternal grandmother took him to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC on Aug. 8, 2015, concerned about a number of scabbed-over wounds on his body.

A physician found at least 15 of the lesions consistent with cigarette burns on his face, chest, neck, back, left arm, left hand and both legs, the criminal complaint said.

According to the complaint, the burns were administered deliberately over a short period in one sitting and was described in the court paperwork as “torture” and “agonizingly painful.”

The boy's sister said in a forensic interview that her mom burned her brother, and Soto “laughed the whole time.”

In addition to aggravated assault, the couple also pleaded guilty to conspiracy, endangering the welfare of children, simple assault and reckless endangerment.