Police: Infant Being Treated for Burns From Hot Bath

Image: William Robert Schmuhl (Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office)

A 9-month-old infant is being treated in a Richmond hospital after suffering burns last week in a scalding hot bath, according to the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested William Robert Schmuhl, 24, of no fixed address, on April 21 for felony child abuse after the child was brought to a local emergency room, the sheriff’s office said. Schmuhl is being held without bond in the Rappahannock Regional Jail.

On April 21, staff members at Mary Washington Hospital’s satellite emergency room at Lees Hill called Spotsylvania police after the child was brought to the ER suffering from extensive immersion-type burns, common to being dipped into scalding hot water, according to a police report.

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A team from the Spotsylvania County Child Victim Unit responded to the scene. The team comprises investigators from Child Protective Services, detectives from the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Criminal Investigative Division, and a deputy prosecutor from the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office.

The child was stabilized and then transferred to the MCV Hospital in Richmond for advanced burn treatment and possible surgery, the sheriff’s office said.

The detectives questioned Schmuhl, who is not the paternal father of the child, and the child’s mother, his girlfriend. They also obtained a search warrant and conducted a forensic examination pf the hotel room where the couple had been staying. The child had received the hot bath in the hotel room, police said.

“This investigation is still ongoing and additional charges may be brought against Schmuhl and anyone else who may have been involved and had knowledge of the crime, failing to summon law enforcement or assistance for the child,” said Spotsylvania Sheriff Roger L. Harris in a statement.