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Police: Chester County Man Admits To Burning His 1-Month-Old Daughter

By Kim Glovas and Todd Quinones

OXFORD, Pa. (CBS) -- A 20-year-old Chester County man has been arrested after his infant daughter was taken to a local hospital with first and second degree burns over 40-percent of her body.

Jorge Colon of Oxford was arrested Sunday on charges of aggravated assault, simple assault and recklessly endangering the welfare of a child.

Police say Colon was giving his one-month-old daughter Kiara a bath on Saturday night when the child suffered burns stretching down the right side from her neck down to her right foot.

When police questioned Colon, he said the baby had been collicky for three weeks and that night, she was particularly irritable. While he was giving her a bath, she began to fuss, and he told police he became angry and turned the warm water to hot. The baby screamed and he took her out of the scalding water. But police say when the child's mother entered the room, the skin had peeled off the child's body.

The child's mother was in the shower at the time of the incident.

Police say the baby is in critical condition at the Burn Unit at Crozer-Chester Medical Center.

"I have been a police officer for 38 years, this is one of the worst cases of child abuse I have ever seen in Chester County," Oxford Police Chief John Slauch said.

Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan says he is outraged.

"As a father I am deeply disturbed and saddened by anybody who would essentially torture their own child," Hogan said.

Colon is being at the Chester County prison on $125,000 bail.

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