22-year-old Shania A. Woods is charged with complicity, endangering children and obstruction for the assault of her 2-year-old son by Joseph Sanders last November. She was booked into the Tuscarawas County Jail on May 29th and released the following day on her own recognizance. 

NEW PHILADELPHIA (Tusco TV) - A 22-year-old Barnhill area woman is facing felony charges for leaving her toddler in the care of a man who injured him so severely that it nearly killed him.

Woods is charged with complicity, child endangerment and obstruction for the 2-year-old's hospitalization last November with life-threatening injuries. Tuscarawas County Assistant Prosecutor Amanda Miller says Woods had left the child in the care of her live-in boyfriend Joseph Sanders, who assaulted him so brutally that it took him to the brink of death.

"The child victim is alive, and he is recovering," she says. "He is quite the miracle."

Sanders was arrested in December and charged with felonious assault and endangering children. He pled guilty in March, and Common Pleas Court Judge Elizabeth Thomakos sentenced him to seven years in prison. Miller says with that case now out of the way, the prosecutor’s office is setting its sights on Woods, accusing her of failing to protect the child and aiding and abetting Sanders.

"Count two is also child abuse. It’s a felony of the third degree, and the allegations are that she failed in her duty as a mother to protect this child," she says. "Count three is obstructing justice. That’s also a felony, and that is for we are alleging she had lied to the police during the investigation."

Miller says they’re seeking the maximum possible prison sentence for each of the charges.
 
"The maximum penalty for the F2 will be 8 years, for the F3 it would be five years, and for the obstructing justice, it would be 12 months," she says.

Miller says whether those terms would run concurrently or consecutively would be at the discretion of the judge. Woods was arraigned May 30th and released on her own recognizance. She's due back in court July 1st for a pretrial hearing.