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WILKES-BARRE — A Edwardsville man who beat and burned boys who didn’t eat quickly enough to suit him was sentenced Thursday in front of Judge Tina Polachek Gartley.
Richard E. Zang, of Garfield Street, was sentenced to 17 to 34 months and three years probation on two counts.
According to the affidavit, Edwardsville police were contacted Sept. 9 by a county Children and Youth Services caseworker about a 10-year-old boy who showed up at school complaining of severe ear pain. The caseworker noticed the child’s ears were black and blue and set up a forensic interview at the Children’s Advocacy Center in Scranton, which was attended by an Edwardsville police officer.
The boy told investigators Zang had become very angry that he was taking too much time to eat his dinner, so he slapped both of the child’s ears.
According to the boy, Zang would make him stand in a corner for an hour or more. The boy also said Zang would hit him.
An older boy, the 10-year-old’s brother, spoke of a similar incident in 2014, in which he said Zang felt he was taking too long to finish his dinner, so he made the boy stand in the corner with his arms up. Zang refused to let the child go to the bathroom, and the boy told investigators he ended up urinating in his pants.
The abuse only intensified after that, the child said.
A doctor who examined both boys discovered a scar on the older boy’s pelvis, consistent with a severe burn, police said. The doctor also said both of the younger boy’s ears would require further treatment.
Zang will be transferred to State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill.