By Associated Press - Thursday, March 15, 2018

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after New Orleans police said her then 5-year-old son was brought to Children’s Hospital with horrific injuries that included burn and bite marks.

NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reports that 40-year-old Heather Simpson pleaded guilty to a child cruelty charge last year and was sentenced Wednesday.

Ken Daley, a spokesman for District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office, says the woman’s son, now 8, is developmentally disabled and partially paralyzed from a severe brain injury.



Authorities said the boy’s condition likely was worsened by a series of five seizures he suffered in a two-week period a few years ago.

Simpson and her former live-in boyfriend, Cristian DeGregory, only sought medical help after the last seizure on May 25, 2015, when the boy stopped breathing.

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Information from: The Times-Picayune, http://www.nola.com

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