Boy, 7, Found With Burns to Arms, Legs, Nose, and Hands

"The mother had threatened to place him in the oven, and then did it."

Tiffany Fraser is accused of sticking her 7-year-old son in a heated oven as a form of punishment.

RAMAPO, N.Y. (CBS) ― Police arrested a 26-year-old woman Friday, claiming she abused her 7-year-old son by sticking him in the oven and turning it on as a form of punishment. The arrest stems from two separate incidents in 2007 when the child appeared to have suffered numerous injuries. The first incident occurred last July when the boy arrived at a daycare center in Airmont where police say owner Joelle Lherisson noticed the boy had burns to his arm, hand, nose, and left leg. Lherisson, 37, however, failed to report the boy's condition to Child Protective Services or police, as required by law, and the boy was returned home to his mother, Tiffany Fraser. Police say the second incident occurred just four months later in November, when a woman found the same boy by himself at a Shoprite in Tallman. When police arrived, the boy told officers that he ran away from home and didn't want to return. The boy, who still had burns on him, claimed his mother punished him by shoving him inside their oven. Police arrested Fraser, a Tallman resident, and charged her with second-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child. She was arraigned in Airmont on Friday afternoon. Lherrison was also arrested for failing to report child abuse, a misdemeanor. But she told CBS 2 she didn't think she did anything wrong and that she provided the best care she could for the boy. "There was nothing wrong with the child," she said.
Both Fraser and Lherrison were set free on their own recognizance. Lherrison is scheduled to return to court on Feb. 7. The daycare has since been closed, its license suspended.

The boy and his sibling were taken into care by Child Protective Services.