Tonya Schmidt

A Butler woman, accused of using a stove to burn the hands of her boyfriend's 6-year-old daughter, was sentenced to state prison in Butler County Court on Thursday.

Tonya L. Schmidt, 36, was sentenced to three to six years in a state correctional facility by Judge Timothy McCune.

She was also ordered to undergo 24 months of probation following the expiration of her parole, and pay court costs, a $100 fine and $6,226 in restitution.

Schmidt previously pleaded no contest to felony aggravated assault and misdemeanor welfare fraud on Sept. 6, after being charged in incidents on Jan. 4, 2014, and Nov. 15, 2014.

Initial charges included three counts each of felony aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children and misdemeanor recklessly endangering another person after the incident on January 2014 incident.

Butler City police said Schmidt held the 6-year-old girl's hands, one at a time, over an open flame on the gas stove at the family's home on East Pearl Street, causing injuries including second-degree burns.

The injuries were noticed when the girl went to school that morning, when authorities were contacted, and she was taken to the emergency room at Butler Memorial Hospital.

The girl reported that while being burned, Schmidt called her a derogatory name and stated, “I'm tired of your bull crap,” according to court documents.

The hospital examination also noted an injury to one of the girl's ears, which appeared to have been struck by an object. That object, the girl related, was a cooking spoon that Schmidt would use to “smack” her, police said.

During a Jan. 15 interview with a child abuse investigator in Pittsburgh, the girl detailed other forms of abuse that the defendant allegedly committed at their home, including forcing her to stand in the corner while holding gallon jugs of water or bags of ice and grabbing the back of her head and forcing her head under water in the bathtub for 10 seconds.

Authorities on Jan. 4 removed the girl from the home where she lived with her father and Schmidt.

Schmidt was held in the Butler County Prison on $50,000 cash bail. A second assault case that was charged on Jan. 4, 2016, was dismissed by the prosecution as a result of this plea.

The welfare fraud charge stems from allegations that she and John N. Ingram, 33, the girl's father, falsely obtained more than $6,000 in child care assistance benefits between Nov. 15, 2014, and Dec. 31, 2015. because they failed to report their living arrangements with his young child.