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SALT LAKE CITY — A man accused of breaking the legs of his girlfriend's 1-year-old son multiple times has been sentenced to a year in jail.
Luis Fernando Ramirez, 30, of West Valley City, admitted in July to intentionally or knowingly inflicting serious injury on the child after doctors found the infant had six fractures in his legs.
On Friday, 3rd District Judge Amber Mettler also gave Ramirez three years' probation and recommended he be released to federal immigration enforcers following his jail sentence. He received credit for almost two months he already has served.
He pleaded guilty to a reduced count of child abuse, a third-degree felony. In exchange for the guilty plea and as part of the plea bargain with prosecutors, a second count was dismissed.
In November, the woman noticed that her young son wouldn't stop crying, his leg was swollen and he was "fussy through the night," according to charges.
Doctors at Primary Children's Hospital discovered a new fracture on his left femur and five healing fractures in the left and right legs, the result of "inflicted trauma," along with bruises around his ears, according to charges.
The boy's mother had taken the boy to the doctor and reported finding his leg hurt after he was left alone with Ramirez about six weeks earlier, prosecutors said. Doctors said the child had a "high risk" of further injury or death if he returned to the caregiver who inflicted the injuries.
