MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A Wetzel County woman is facing a child neglect charge in Monongalia County after deputies determined she left a 2-year-old boy unattended in a bathtub and the boy received severe burns from hot water that were so severe he needed to be transported to a burn center.
On Feb. 24, deputies with the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department were contacted by CPS in reference to a 2-year-old boy who was taken to Ruby Memorial Hospital with “severe burns to his face, shoulder, back, hand,” and had “bruising all over his body,” according to a criminal complaint.
Due to the severity of his injuries, the boy had to be taken to the West Penn Burn Center for treatment and deputies interviewed a woman, Samantha Bierer, 26, of Burton, in reference to the incident, deputies said.
Bierer stated that she was “at a friend’s house and after dinner she gave [the boy] a bath,” and she “put the child in a bath with approximately 1 inch of water and left the room,” according to the complaint.
Later, Bierer “heard a scream” and found the child “burned to the point where the skin was peeling from his face,” deputies said.
Bierer told deputies that “she believed the 2-year-old child had turned on the hot water and burned himself,” and that the bruising was caused by an incident where “the child had fallen on his butt on ice,” according to the complaint.
As for the other bruising on the boy’s body, Bierer told deputies that “she had not noticed” it “until the hospital visit”; tests conducted at the hospital found the water which burned the boy was between 110 and 122 degrees, deputies said.
During a later interview, Bierer stated “that she had caused the bruising to the child” during an incident when “she was spanking [the boy] and she ‘blacked out,” according to the complaint.
Brier has been charged with child neglect resulting in injury and child abuse resulting in injury. She is being held in North Central Regional Jail.
