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Charges refiled against father

Butler police have refiled charges against a father who they say did not report his 6-year-old daughter’s abuse by his girlfriend.

John N. Ingram, 32, of Butler was charged Tuesday with a felony count of child endangerment and a misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment.

Only a month ago, police filed those same charges against Ingram, alleging he knew that 33-year-old Tonya L. Schmidt of Butler was abusing his daughter since 2014 but did not notify authorities.

However, District Judge William Fullerton dismissed the first set of charges against Ingram at a May 9 preliminary hearing, citing a lack of direct evidence presented by prosecutors.

Mark Lope, a Butler County assistant district attorney, at the hearing called just one witness, police Lt. Detective Anthony Fatta, the investigating officer.

Fatta recounted the initial report Jan. 4 to the state’s ChildLine hot line that accused Schmidt of burning the girl’s hands on the gas stove.

The child suffered second-degree burns on both hands, police said. She was treated for her injuries at Butler Memorial Hospital.

The Butler County Children and Youth Services agency removed the girl from the home and she was placed in foster care.

Police on Jan. 20 arrested Schmidt on several charges including aggravated assault and child endangerment, both felonies. She is awaiting trial on the charges and is in the county prison on $75,000 bail.

Following the first ChildLine report, the girl told her foster mother of other abuse at the hands of her stepmother.

She told authorities that Schmidt in 2015 pushed her down the stairs at a home on Pillow Street. Police said CYS records indicated that Ingram was at the home and took his daughter to the hospital for treatment of injuries.

However, he did not report to police or CYS what happened.

Schmidt also is accused of punching and choking the girl and holding her head under water.

Police would eventually learn of the alleged abuse after staff at Emily Brittain Elementary School, where the girl was enrolled, noticed her injuries and contacted authorities.

One school official told investigators that in 2015 it appeared the girl had facial cuts and swelling that were covered up by makeup.

The girl’s foster mother in a ChildLine report claimed the victim told her that Ingram had applied the makeup on her face to hide the injuries, Fatta testified at the hearing.

But Ingram’s attorney, Kathryn Stevenson, challenged the testimony, suggesting the girl had previously accused Schmidt — not her client — of applying the makeup.

At the hearing, Fatta admitted he never personally interviewed the girl and acknowledged that she never disclosed to authorities her father knew that Schmidt had abused her.

Since no one else testified, Stevenson successfully argued that the prosecution’s case as presented was based on hearsay evidence and should be dismissed.

Ingram, who continues to have supervised visits with his daughter, is to be arraigned on the new charges Friday, online court records showed.

Neither Stevenson nor Lope immediately returned telephone calls this morning.

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