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Chester County mother sentenced to years in prison for abuse of 9-year-old daughter

Chester County mother sentenced to years in prison for abuse of 9-year-old daughter
Chester County mother sentenced to years in prison for abuse of 9-year-old daughter 00:36

WESTTOWN TOWNSHIP, Pa. (CBS) – A Chester County mother was sentenced to 28 to 56 years in prison for child abuse, according to Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan. Julianne Lewis pleaded guilty to kidnapping, assaulting and endangering the welfare of her 9-year-old daughter.

The 30-year-old woman was charged by Judge Ann Marie Wheatcraft along with her boyfriend Dimitrios Moscharis in connection with the brutal beating, abuse and neglect of Lewis's daughter.

Moscharis died in Chester County Prison in 2021 while awaiting trial.

The daughter spent several months recovering at Nemours Children's Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware.

"Julianne Lewis allowed her boyfriend to subject her child to cruel and long-term abuse while doing nothing to stop or prevent it," D.A. Ryan said. "She willfully violated the duty of care and responsibility she had as a human being and as a mother."

On Nov. 11, 2020, Westtown-East Goshen police went to a home for a child who was unresponsive on the bathroom floor. When EMS removed her clothes to perform life-saving measures, they saw extensive bruising, old and new, all over her body.

The bruising patterns matched objects nearby, including a curtain rod and hanger. Doctors said she suffered life-threatening injuries consistent with strangulation or suffocation and imprisonment in a small space.

The investigation showed that Lewis allowed Moscharis to discipline her daughter with a curtain rod and window blind baton.

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