D.C. mother pleads guilty to abuse of 9-year-old son with cerebral palsy

A Southeast Washington woman pleaded guilty Monday to pouring scalding water on her 9-year-old son, binding his ankles and wrists and covering his mouth with duct tape, and locking him in his room and bathroom during a four-month period last year.

Betty T. Threatt, 27, wiped away tears as she pleaded guilty to three counts of child abuse and first-degree cruelty while armed in the treatment of her son, who has cerebral palsy. Threatt faces nine years in prison when she is sentenced June 12.

During Mondays hearing, prosecutors unveiled grisly new details of how they say Threatt and her then-boyfriend abused the boy in their two-bedroom apartment on Brandywine Street SE.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Park said Threatt poured scalding water on her son and locked him in a bedroom and a bathroom for as many as five days at a time between March and June 2014.

In addition, Parks said Threatts former boyfriend, Lester O. Jackson, 52, who also was charged in the case, instructed Threatt not to give her son food during the four-month period, which resulted in the boy becoming severely malnourished and extremely underweight.

Jackson has rejected a plea deal and is scheduled to go to trial in July. He was not present at Mondays hearing.

At times, prosecutors said, the couple bound the boy with duct tape and put him in their bathtub.

Threatt instructed her three younger children to lie and tell authorities that their brother was doing fine and was not living in the apartment but was instead living with his father, prosecutors said.

Before accepting the plea, D.C. Superior Court Judge Rhonda Reid Winston asked Threatt specific questions about the charges. Was there one occasion that you used scalding water and intentionally burned the boy? Winston asked.

The judge also asked her if she bound the boys legs and arms to keep him from moving and put duct tape on his mouth and put him in a bathtub. Each time, Threatt said yes in a barely audible voice. Her court-appointed attorney rubbed her shoulder.

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D.C. mother pleads guilty to abuse of 9-year-old son with cerebral palsy