CLEARFIELD – A Madera woman, accused of abusing and nearly killing her young child, was sentenced Thursday afternoon in Clearfield County Court.
Last August, Hannah Vogel, 24, was charged by the Attorney General’s office with two felony counts of aggravated assault and child endangerment, plus misdemeanor simple assault.
On March 16, she agreed to enter a guilty plea to one felony count of child endangerment and the misdemeanor count of simple assault.
Prior to sentencing, Judge Paul Cherry expressed concern over a statement Vogel had made in the pre-sentencing investigation report.
He said when interviewed, Vogel denied she had committed any crimes against her child, and Cherry wanted to know if this in fact was still the case.
Vogel’s attorney, Fred Hummel Jr., said this was inaccurate, his client made the statement when she was in a state of confusion and was prepared to proceed with sentencing.
Cherry continued with the proceeding, reading a victim impact statement about how the child’s father’s family was devastated by the abuse the child suffered “at the hands of her mother.”
Afterwards, he asked Vogel if she had anything to say. She said, “no sir,” and appalled by her response, Cherry asked, “not even, ‘I’m sorry?’”
Trembling, she said: “I am sorry,” then Cherry sentenced Vogel to one month to two years less one day in county jail, plus five years of probation.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, on Jan. 10, 2019, Vogel took the victim to Q-Care in Philipsburg because of swelling and abrasions behind both ears as well as bruising on her forehead.
Vogel told medical staff she first noticed these injuries on Jan. 6, 2019. She said the child was also being treated for an eye infection and a corneal abrasion on the left eye with antibiotic eye drops.
During the visit, the examining physician advised he intended to file a ChildLine report, as the victim’s injuries were “unusual.” He noted that Vogel waited four days to bring the child for treatment when the injuries weren’t healing.
Investigators initially interviewed Vogel on Jan. 11, 2019. She said the victim bruised her forehead sometime the week of Jan. 6, 2019 when she ran into a wall; the back injuries reportedly occurred after a safety gate gave out and the child fell down the steps.
When asked about the victim’s eye injury, she said around Dec. 28, 2018, the victim and another child were playing on an indoor trampoline when they bumped into each other. This, she said, caused the victim to fall and afterwards she kept rubbing her left eye.
She said she used a Q-Tip to remove four to five pieces of some sort of dirt from the victim’s eye. The child was then taken to Q-Care on Dec. 30, 2018 to have an eye examination.
Vogel said it was determined the victim should be seen by an eye doctor, and she was on Jan. 2, 2019. She said the child was diagnosed with a scratched cornea and given antibiotic eye drops.
Due to the reported injuries, a caseworker from Clearfield County Children & Youth Services initiated a safety plan, and requested the victim be taken to the hospital for an x-ray and or CT scan.
On Jan. 11, 2019, the victim was life-flighted from the Tyrone Hospital to UPMC Children’s Hospital, Pittsburgh, and various medical tests were performed.
She was diagnosed with “extensive” bruising behind both ears; bruising about her neck (left side), back, buttocks and abdominal area; an acute subdural hemorrhage and soft tissue swelling on her head; and a sub-acute subdural hemorrhage on her brain.
The victim also had edema of the para spinal muscles and soft tissue swelling of the neck; right retinal hemorrhages; and a large corneal abrasion with subconjunctival hemorrhages of the left eye.
Vogel was present throughout the examination and when questioned by the doctor about the child’s injuries, she reportedly stated: “Okay, I’ll tell you the truth this time.” She said the eye injury occurred in December of 2018, and it appeared to be getting better.
She said she noticed the bruising behind the victim’s ears on Jan. 6, 2019, and investigators noted that Vogel was the only person to have noticed them. She said the child was seen by the eye doctor Jan. 7, 2019 and vomited after.
Vogel said over the next two days, the victim appeared to be fine but did run into the wall on Jan. 9, 2019. She said this caused the bruising on her forehead, and it appeared to have worsened the next day, Jan. 10, 2019.
When the doctor asked about the child’s back injuries, she said the victim had fallen down a flight of steps about a week and a half earlier. However, she said the child appeared “normal” after the fall.
On Jan. 14, 2019, Vogel was interviewed by state police at the UPMC Children’s Hospital, and she claimed the child had swelling and abrasions behind both ears upon return from a weekend visit on Jan. 6, 2019.
On the contrary, the doctor concluded the victim’s brain injury “absolutely” occurred later in the week after she returned home and was in the custody of Vogel. She said it would have been “virtually impossible” for it to have occurred over the prior weekend.
She said once the child had suffered her injuries, she would not have been running around and acting her normal self. She said it appeared the corneal injuries were almost healed Jan. 7, 2019, and that the victim’s eyes were reinjured and the trauma was “non-accidental.”
“This constellation of injuries, without history of major trauma, is virtually diagnostic of physical abuse,” and most likely from shaking, the doctor wrote. “The level of violence …. is significant; the victim was at significant risk of death.”
On May 4, 2020, a witness told state police Vogel is known to have a “short temper” and to “get mad easily.” He said she didn’t handle punishing her child well, and he also didn’t allow his own child to be alone with her.
