Man guilty of burning boy with scalding water

EVERETT — A man accused of dipping an 18-month-old boy’s feet into scalding water pleaded guilty Tuesday.

Zachary Wilson, 18, of Everett, entered the plea to second- degree assault of a child in Snohomish County Superior Court.

He faces the maximum of more than three years behind bars when he’s sentenced in early February.

Prosecutors said the little boy’s feet looked as if they’d been painted red and there were horizontal lines across the child’s ankles that marked the level they were dunked in the hot water.

Wilson’s explanation for the Aug. 22 incident changed several times.

At first he told police the child had knocked over a pot of water. Later he said the boy was burned while taking a bath.

When detectives confronted Wilson, he began to cry and acknowledged that he immersed the boy’s feet in a pot of boiling water, court papers said.

The child suffered second-degree burns. His injuries aren’t considered life-threatening but it’s unknown if he’ll fully recover, prosecutors said.

The boy was placed in foster care.

Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437, jholtz@heraldnet.com.

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