Staff photos / Ed Runyan Victoria Hawkins talks to Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Donofrio on Wednesday during Hawkins’ sentencing hearing on a felony child endangering offense. At right is her attorney, Walter Ritchie.

YOUNGSTOWN — Victoria L. Hawkins, 33, and Jhanette Shipp, 29, both of Westminster Avenue in Austintown, have been sentenced to three years in prison in an abuse case that involved Hawkins’ son, who was between 4 and 7 years old at the time.

Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Caitlyn Andrews said the charges stem from an “ongoing history of abuse with these defendants where they cruelly abused” the boy. Shipp is Hawkins’ girlfriend, Andrews said.

“Between November of 2019 and November of 2022, there were 13 referrals to (Mahoning County Children Services) regarding this family and their mistreatment” of the boy, Andrews said.

Among the referrals were when “neighbors heard screaming when the victim was being beaten, there were bruises on his arms and face at the time of that referral,” Andrews said.

One time, he was forced to strip down and was beaten with a belt and their hands, and “witnesses observed belt buckle marks on his head,” Andrews said.

“They kept him from going to school. His mother would hit and punch him in the face. They would pour bleach, salt and vinegar on him to burn him,” Andrews said. “They locked him in a closet for a weekend in the summer in the heat as punishment, and they wouldn’t even let him leave to go to the restroom.”

“CSB did substantiate physical abuse in March of 2022,” she said.

On Nov. 18, 2022, a referral from the boy’s school was made that led to the boy being removed from the home and the indictment in this case, she said.

“He had been absent (from school) all week, and when he returned, he had a large gash on his forehead, and it was so deep you could put a Q-tip inside of it. He was taken to the hospital and it was found it was infected, and it had been there for several days completely untreated,” Andrews said.

“He had old scars covering his body — in his head, neck, arms, stomach, back, legs,” she said.

When he was asked how he got these injuries, he said, “My mom told me not to tell anyone what happened,” Andrews said.

Akron Children’s Hospital staff diagnosed his injuries as “suspected child physical abuse,” she said.

The boy had a history of not being in school on Mondays and Tuesdays, she said. It led school officials to believe the boy was being abused over the weekend and was kept at home to keep school officials from seeing the extent of his injuries. School officials said it appeared the boy was afraid of his mother, she said.

The boy told school officials once when he was in trouble “Please don’t call my mom. I will end up in the hospital,” Andrews said. He had 60 school absences over about a year and a half.

After he was removed from their home, he reported being called various names at home, and reported that his mom and Shipp “locked him outside in the snow with no shoes on because he was in trouble.”

He related that one time he was not allowed to eat, “so he took a chicken nugget from one of the defendants and when she saw he took it, he blamed it on the cat because he didn’t want to get in trouble. So then right in front of (the boy), they killed the cat,” Andrews said.

She said since being removed from the home, he “has nightmares, he has struggles to sleep” and “characteristics of severe trauma, including just reverting back to a young age.”

Andrews said the boy is now “in a supportive home where he is loved, and he is cared for. He is a happy 9-year-old boy.”

Also speaking to the judge was Cathy Kristan, a guardian ad litem appointed by the Mahoning County Juvenile Court to represent the interests of the child.

She said Hawkins’ son was referred to Mahoning County Children Services 13 times, and four CSB case workers were assigned to the case.

“Each time the case worker changed, referrals slipped through the cracks,” said Kristan, who is director of the juvenile court’s Court Appointed Special Advocate Mahoning program.

Kristan said after she was appointed to the case in November 2022, she went to children services and investigated the matter.

“There was some substantiated abuse between the first referral and the (last) referral. It’s just nothing was ever done.”

Kristan said the boy told her all of the things Andrews mentioned.

“The child has been very consistent with me in all of the abuse he has taken. He has scars all over his body,” Kristan said.

He will be evaluated soon to determine whether he has suffered cognitive damage as a result of the beatings, including to his head.

Also, he has a good CSB case worker now and is in a “really good foster home,” she said.

In response to the case, Richard Tvaroch, executive director of Mahoning County Children Services, said in a statement Friday the county “is fortunate to have such a dedicated and talented group of compassionate professionals who protect and advocate for our children and families.”

Meanwhile, “The perceived failures of our agency are concerning and will be looked into,” he said.

“Our agency remains fully committed to collaborating with our community partners to continuously improve our processes, ensuring that every child receives the protection and support they deserve,” Tvaroch said in the statement.

Walter Ritchie, Hawkins’ attorney, told Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Donofrio the boy’s father was abusive toward Hawkins and is in prison for murder. Hawkins has two other children, and there was never any allegation of abuse involving those children, Ritchie said. He said Hawkins and the boy want to be reunited, and Hawkins has taken parenting classes and has a job.

Hawkins told the judge there has “never been no abuse” involving the boy, “no hatred in this household,” and the boy “fell off of his bunk bed” the weekend before the boy was taken from her.

“My son does not have truancy,” Hawkins said.

When the judge asked her why documents indicate the boy missed 60 days, she said other documents show he missed 18 days.

“I am a loving mother of my child,” Hawkins said. “I would never, ever do these things to my child.”

The judge replied he had reports that show the matter was “investigated very thoroughly.” He added, “You pled guilty. You admitted to endangering this child.”

“I know,” Hawkins said.

The judge said he has read investigative reports from CSB, and “they are very disturbing. I have not seen Ms. Hawkins accept any responsibility for any of this. All I heard is denial, denial, denial.”

He said the reports implicated Hawkins and Shipp of abusing the boy, who “displayed all of the characteristics of severe trauma abuse, horrible wounds on his back and ankles, extremely infected gash on his forehead” and “scarring all over his body. Those are allegations that are not just fabricated. They are part of an investigation.”

The judge then repeated most if not all of the allegations that Andrews mentioned earlier.

“I sincerely doubt that investigators from CSB would fabricate as many instances of abuse as they observed,” he said. “They are trained to observe abuse.”

As Wednesday’s hearing ended, Hawkins started to cry loudly as Donofrio imposed a no contact order between the defendants and the boy and indicated that Hawkins gets credit for 67 days already spent in the Mahoning County jail, and Shipp gets credit for 60 days.

Have an interesting story? Contact Ed Runyan by email at erunyan@vindy.com. Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @TribToday.