Woman sentenced for abuse of son
KINGMAN, Ariz. -- A Bullhead City woman who severely abused her 3-year-old son and admitted allowing her roommates to do the same has been sentenced to prison for 121/2 years.
The punishment imposed Thursday was the maximum possible under terms of a plea agreement on child abuse charges for Mitzie Hadsall, 25.
Mohave County Superior Court Judge Rick Williams told Hadsall that the senselessness of her neglect and abuse of her son Johnathan would haunt him for years to come.
A shopper spotted the boy in a near lifeless condition in a shopping cart at a Wal-Mart.
Emergency room nurse Lisa Alford detailed how dehydrated, malnourished and abused the boy was when he was rushed to Western Arizona Regional Medical Center on Oct. 1.
"His eyes were sunken. His hair was thinned. His teeth were rotted," Alford testified.
She said she was so overwhelmed with emotion that she had to leave the ER for a few minutes and has seen a counselor to help her cope with what she witnessed.
Case officer Mike Sodaro said Johnathan was covered "from head to toe" in bruises in various colors and stages of healing, a ghastly pattern he likened to 'camouflage.' "I've never seen a child that badly bruised," Sodaro said.
Johnathan, now 4, is in foster care and recovering from heart surgery intended to increase oxygen flow throughout his body. His foster mother said Johnathan is cognitively underdeveloped but is happy in his current home environment.
