Lancaster County man sentenced for breaking child's leg

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) – Timofey Freint of Lancaster County was sentenced to a minimum of 5 1/2 years and up to 12 years in prison for breaking the leg of a three-year-old child.

The child also suffered internal damage to his liver and adrenal gland, as well as muscle damage.

“In my 10 years of working here, I have never seen physical abuse of a child this severe,” said Jennifer Ponessa, assistant district attorney for Lancaster County.

Freint, of Lititz, pleaded guilty in March to aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children, recklessly endangering another person and aggravated assault on a victim under 13 and a defendant 18 years of age or older.

The prosecutor's office says Freint had moved in with the victim's mother two months before the incident. The investigation began in June 2022 after the child was taken to Hershey Medical Center, where a doctor described the injuries as consistent with a “snap.”

“You have been placed in the custody of this child,” Lancaster County Judge Merrill Spahn told Freint before handing down the sentence. “Justice would be to turn back the clock, so this was never done to this child.”

The district attorney's office said the victim's mother went to the store for about 30 minutes and returned to find the child injured. Freint had said the child fell off a couch when he was confronted with his broken leg.