A Butler woman is accused of using a stove top to burn the hands of her boyfriend’s 6-year-old daughter.

The girl suffered second-degree burns Jan. 4 but the suspect, 33-year-old Tonya L. Schmidt, did not immediately get medical help for the child, Butler police said.

Only after the girl showed up for school that morning did authorities learn what happened and get her to the hospital.

The child would later reveal other examples of cruel punishment and discipline that she allegedly suffered at the hands of the woman she considered her stepmother and who she called “Mama T.”

Police Wednesday arrested Schmidt on felony charges of aggravated assault and child endangerment, and misdemeanor charges of simple assault and reckless endangerment.

She is in the Butler County Prison on $25,000 bail.

Police believe that on the morning of Jan. 4, Schmidt held the girl’s hands, one at a time, over an open flame on the gas stove at the family’s home on East Pearl Street.

Asked for a motive, Butler police Capt. David Dalcamo on Thursday admitted that investigators don’t have one.

But the girl told authorities that while being burned, Schmidt called her a derogatory name and stated, “I’m tired of your bull crap,” according to court documents.

The girl recounted seeing the “blue and yellow flames” coming from the lit burner and screaming in pain.

She also described seeing one of her thumbs begin to blister. The suspect, she said, then “popped” the blisters.

The child was later sent to her elementary school in the city. Once there, school officials saw the injuries and spoke to the child.

“School officials immediately called the proper authorities,” Dalcamo said, “who got the child medical treatment.”

A pediatrician treated her in the emergency room at Butler Memorial Hospital. The physician diagnosed her hand injuries as second-degree burns and “very painful,” police said.

He determined the injuries were “consistent with” being burned by an open flame, seeming to corroborate the girl’s account.

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, Dalcamo 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.

She said Schmidt forced her to stand in the corner while holding gallon jugs of water or bags of ice.

More than once, she recalled, Schmidt grabbed the back of her head and forced her head under water in the bathtub for 10 seconds or so.

She told investigators that Schmidt had been “doing bad things” to her since she was 3 years old, according to a police affidavit.

Police tried to interview Schmidt but she declined and asked to speak to an attorney. Online court dockets did not indicate if she has an attorney.

Authorities on Jan. 4 removed the girl from the home where she lived with her father and Schmidt, Dalcamo said. She remains in the custody of Butler County Children and Youth Services.

Dalcamo would not say who else lives at the house with Schmidt and the girl’s father. It also was not immediately known if the father was aware of the alleged abuse of his daughter.

“The investigation is ongoing,” Dalcamo said.