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WILKES-BARRE — A city man is appealing his lengthy state prison sentence for using a belt to punish a child for damaging an air mattress.
Donald Lester Warren, 34, formerly of Carlisle Street, was convicted by a Luzerne County jury after a two-day trial in April on charges of simple assault and endangering the welfare of children.
Judge David W. Lupas sentenced Warren last month to two to four years in state prison.
Warren filed an appeal with the state Superior Court last week.
A motion indicating reasons why he is challenging the sentence could not be located in the county Clerk of Courts office on Monday.
City police charged Warren in February 2014 with whipping an 8-year-old boy with a belt inside his Carlisle Street residence. The child’s grandmother reported the abuse to police after her 9-year-old granddaughter told her Warren struck her brother with a belt, according to court records.
Police said the boy had bruises to his face, arm, back and neck and his right eye was swollen.
The boy and his older sister told police Warren struck the boy with a belt because their younger sister was jumping and damaged an air mattress, court records say.
It wasn’t the first time Warren was charged with using a belt to punish a child.
Court records indicate Warren was arrested by police in April 2010 when a preschool teacher at Catholic Youth Services noticed bruises on a then 5-year-old boy.
The child’s mother told police that she and Warren picked up the child at preschool and the child was being uncooperative, kicking and screaming. When they arrived home, Warren told the child to go upstairs and drop his pants. Warren admitted he struck the child with a belt because the child was causing trouble in school, court records say.
Police said in the criminal complaint the child sustained bruises on the legs, above the knees and buttocks.
Under a negotiated plea deal, prosecutors withdrew a misdemeanor simple assault charge against Warren, who pleaded guilty to a summary charge of disorderly conduct. He was sentenced in October 2011 to three-months probation.
Warren was re-sentenced to three-months probation in April 2012 on violations he failed to attend parenting classes, court records indicate.