Father Pleads Guilty to Assaulting Two-Month-Old Daughter
Monday, September 30, 2013
September 30
Francis J. Chrzanowski (DOB 11/5/89), of 2144 Stella St., Philadelphia, pleaded guilty today (9/30) to causing multiple injuries to his two-month-old daughter while he was at his mother’s Williamstown NJ home on 10/24/10.
Chrzanowski entered the pleas to second-degree aggravated assault and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child before Superior Court Judge Walter L. Marshall Jr., who will determine the defendant’s sentence on 11/15. Since Chrzanowski was scheduled for trial next week, he had passed the deadline for accepting a plea agreement and thus left his penalty to the court’s discretion.
Questioned about what actions he took that established his guilt, Chrzanowski acknowleged he “got frustrated” and pulled his infant’s arms, dislocating them. He also conceded to defense attorney Richard O’Brien that he “purposely threw” the child onto a sofa, causing additional internal injuries. The child was hospitalized for 17 days after Chrzanowski’s mother sought medical treatment for her. Chrzanowski was arrested 10/26/10 and has remained in jail in default of $75,000 bail.
At the time, Chrzanowski said, he was the sole caretaker of the child, since the baby’s mother had relinquished custody. He was living in his mother’s home, he told Assistant Gloucester County Prosecutor Staci Scheetz.
In explaining the possible penalties to Chrzanowski, Judge Marshall said he could be sentenced to as many as 20 years in state prison if the terms on the two second-degree charges were imposed consecutively. Even though he has no prior criminal record, some prison time “is a virtual certainty,” the judge said.
