Man sentenced for burning boy with cigarettes

Nov. 7—WILKES-BARRE — A Scranton man maintained it was an accident when he burned a then 5-year-old boy with a cigarette but medical examinations showed repeated physical assaults upon the child.

Raheam Levon Patterson, 31, of Roseland Court, showed up late to his sentencing hearing Thursday on a single count of endangering the welfare of a child, telling President Judge Michael T. Vough he "slept in."

Patterson, who pled guilty to the child endangerment charge on Aug. 22, was charged by Kingston police detectives while investigating a Child Line report alleging he intentionally burned the boy on the neck with a lighter inside a residence on Northampton Street, Kingston, in January.

The child was questioned by a forensic interviewer at the Luzerne County Children's Advocacy Center in Wilkes-Barre.

During the interview, the child claimed Patterson gave him a "boo-boo" with a lighter on his neck and arms because he was a bad kid and failed to perform work, according to court records.

A medical examination of the child revealed numerous injuries in various stages of healing over most of his body, including his neck, torso, both arms, buttocks and legs.

Patterson told detectives he accidentally burned the child when he lowered his arm with a cigarette in his hand. Patterson maintained Thursday the child's burn was an accident.

During Patterson's sentencing hearing, a therapist testified the boy continues to be traumatized by the assaults and burns.

Assistant District Attorney John C. Aciukewicz requested a higher-end sentence while Patterson's attorney, Max C. Lubin, asked for a sentence to keep Patterson at the county correctional facility.

"This child is permanently scared for life, emotionally scared for life," Vough said before sentencing Patterson to 16 months to five years in state prison.