Jennerstown man sentenced to state prison for brutalizing a 5-year-old
"I wish I could take it back" Zachary Eppley said at his sentencing Tuesday in a case in which he is accused of brutalizing a 5-year-old boy.
President Judge D. Gregory Geary sentenced Eppley, 26, of Jennerstown, to 18 months to 7 years in state prison for aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children, second-degree felonies. He was given 118 days for time served in the Somerset County Jail.
Eppley told the court he was "very sorry" and took responsibility for his actions. He pleaded guilty on Dec. 8 in the Somerset County Court of Common Pleas to the felonies in this case and to a misdemeanor drunken driving charge, first offense, in another case that was folded into the sentence that dealt with the child abuse. The drunken driving incident occurred May 29.
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In the second case, during a July 2 welfare check, Somerset Borough police found a 5-year-old boy lying under a purple towel on a bed in an apartment along Deal Street that contained two other children. The caller reported that the male boyfriend inside the residence was and had been violent with the mother and children there.
Somerset Borough officer Joe Clement discovered the injured child and told another officer, Aaron Folton, the child he found needed immediate medical attention. Folton then called medical emergency personnel. Clement stayed with the child until the ambulance arrived. The child was transported to UPMC Somerset for treatment.
"The child was bleeding from the lips, nose and face area, had a clear large adult size bite mark on his upper right bicep, bruising around the neck, and face area. The child had a large contusion on the upper right portion of his forehead as well as open sores on multiple locations of his body. The child was lethargic and did not speak," Folton wrote in a court document.
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Meantime, on July 2 Eppley fled out a rear window of the Deal Street apartment when law enforcement arrived and continued to run until he was apprehended in a hotel parking lot north of the residence and placed under arrest, Folton wrote.
According to Eppley's attorney, Ashlan Jann Clark, he had been in treatment after the drunken driving incident and relapsed a week before the incident with the child.
At Eppley's sentencing Tuesday, the child's grandmother attended but did not comment, nor did any other family member.
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Eppley said he did not want to cause any more pain or suffering with the family involved in the incident.
Geary said the reasons for the sentence were as follows: It fell within the standard range of the federal sentencing guidelines, the prison system can best provide the treatment for Eppley and the seriousness of the offenses.
Eppley is eligible for the state prison boot camp program and "if the Department of Corrections believe the defendant would be a good candidate the court will recommend it," Geary said.
The program includes a drug and alcohol and mental health component, Clark said.
"He seems genuine to want and need the help," she said. "He needs to put himself moving forward."
Eppley was ordered to pay $1,300 in fines and to undergo and pay for a DNA test.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Jennerstown man sentenced to state prison for brutalizing a 5-year-old
