Cops: Mom burned son, 7, in oven

A Rockland County woman was charged Friday after being accused of putting her 7-year-old son in a hot oven as punishment.

Tiffany Fraser, 26, of 1 Tallman Place, Airmont, the mother of twin sons, pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault, a felony, in Village Court. She previously had been charged with a misdemeanor in the case.

The child's day care provider also was charged because, police and state officials said, she learned about the abuse from the boy and mother but never reported it to authorities.

The day care provider, Joelle M. Lherisson, 37, of 10 Country Club Lane, was charged with a misdemeanor count of failure to report child abuse. She has pleaded not guilty. Her license to operate a day care facility at her house has been revoked by the state.

"In this case, we have horrific acts," Ramapo Detective Lt. Brad Weidel said yesterday during a Town Hall news conference attended by the police chief, town supervisor and council members. "This case has been very unnerving for us, especially those of us who have children.

"Our investigation found the mother threatened to put the child in the oven and then did so. We found the day care operator knew and didn't report the incident."

Fraser's twin sons were removed by the Family Court in November and placed with a foster family under the auspices of Rockland Child Protective Services.

Weidel said Fraser's other son was not physically abused, but police were investigating more abuse against the child and Lherisson's day care business.

Fraser, a single mother, is accused of putting her son in the oven in July because he had lost a cell phone, Weidel said.

"He was being punished," Weidel said.

The child's burns - including to his arm, hand, nose and left leg - were noticed by Lherisson, who questioned the boy at the day care facility, police and the state Office of Children and Family Services said.

Lherisson never reported the abuse as required by law for mandated reporters, according to a Nov. 8 letter from the state agency revoking her license to operate a child care facility.

State inspectors visited Lherisson's day care facility Oct. 26 to investigate a hair-pulling incident between a staff member and a child, said Pat Cantiello, a representative of the state Office of Children and Family Services.

During that visit, the inspectors learned about the July incident with Fraser's child, Cantiello said.

"During the the month of July 2007, you observed burns marks and blisters on the inside of the arm of a seven-year-old day care child," the state wrote Lherisson in the Nov. 8 letter.

"You questioned the child and he disclosed that his mother tried to put him in the oven. You contacted the child's mother, who confirmed the incident did occur."

Lherisson, who had a license since Nov. 30, 2005, appealed the revocation of her license on Dec. 20. A hearing officer upheld the state's decision on Dec. 31.

She has 120 days under the law to appeal her revocation. Lherisson could not be reached for comment. Her lawyer, Brian Berkowitz, did not return two telephone calls seeking comment.

While the state learned about the alleged child abuse on Oct. 26, Ramapo police learned about it on Oct. 31. Weidel said the police had been investigating a separate incident of child endangerment at Lherisson's facility, but declined to comment further.

Fraser reported her son missing to the police that Halloween Day, Weidel said. The boy was found at the ShopRite on Route 59, about two-tenths of a mile from his home.

The boy told Ramapo police "that he had run away from home and did not want to return," Weidel said.

"He indicated to them that his mother had put him in an oven and burned him as a punishment," Weidel said. "When you hear something like that from a 7-year-old kid, you wonder if it's accurate. But we investigated."

Fraser appeared in court yesterday, dressed in a white jacket, gray sweat pants and boots. She wore black-rimmed glasses. She has appeared before the judge in this case before on the misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child.

After the arraignment, Fraser's lawyer, Edward Cigna, questioned the filing of an assault charge. Cigna said the Ramapo police had known about the abuse allegations for three months and only charged her with a misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child.

"This has been kicking around for months with the same known facts," Cigna said. "They returned the children to her back then. This has gone overboard."

Weidel said police filed the assault charge based on results from forensic evidence. He also said the child didn't have burn marks when police first saw him on Oct. 31.

Fraser's only comment to Justice Anthony Benedict during her arraignment referred to the media.

"I just don't want nobody coming to my house," she told the judge.

Benedict said he couldn't stop people from knocking on her door. He released her without bail, because she has shown up at all her previous hearings and at Family Court, where custody of her twin boys is at stake.

Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe's office called in a recommended bail of $5,000 on the assault charge, but didn't send a prosecutor to Fraser's arraignment. Zugibe didn't return a telephone call seeking comment.

Fraser waited inside Airmont Village Hall in hopes the news photographers would leave. She eventually ran out the back door.

Tallman Place, where she and her two sons lived, is just off Route 59, a short street near railroad tracks, an industrial park and the New York State Thruway.

Deon Raymond, a homeowner, said he was shocked by the charges against Fraser, whom he knew only in passing.

"She didn't look like someone who would do this type of thing," Raymond said.

Lherisson's home on Country Club Lane is on a quiet cul-de-sac where the houses have broad lawns and wooded backyards. Toys and play equipment sat inside a fenced area in the home's side yard.

Several neighbors declined to comment on Lherisson yesterday.