CLEARFIELD – A Clearfield woman charged with felony endangering the welfare of a child in a serious child abuse case and who pleaded guilty to lesser charges was sentenced to probation on Friday in Clearfield County Court.
Christina N. Swanson, 29, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child and was given an 18-month period of probation by Senior Judge Kenneth Valasek, according to online court documents.
The additional charges were withdrawn.
The investigation started in January 2023 after authorities were notified a three-year-old child was admitted to Penn Highlands Clearfield for bruising to his chest, which was identified as possible child abuse, according to the criminal complaint.
The child also had multiple bruises on his arms, knees, hips and on the top of his head.
The father said the bruising was noticed after a custody exchange with Swanson. The child identified Richard Allen Hudak, 41, whose address is now listed as Philipsburg in online court documents, as the one who had hurt his chest. He claimed the other bruises were caused by a fall down the stairs.
Later when questioned again about the other bruises, he gave the same answer but when asked if his mother told him to tell people that, he nodded his head.
In another interview, he added that Hudak punches him in the stomach and said Swanson hit him too.
The father told investigators since November 2022, before they exchanged custody of the boy, Swanson would send a message saying he fell or another excuse.
He reported that for the first few days after the boy comes to his home, the child would eat an abnormal amount of food as if he wasn’t being fed.
He explained that he took photos of the previous bruises and filed for emergency custody but a judge told him it was “petty of him to take pictures of the bruises,” according to the affidavit.
Further investigation revealed that the child had attended day care with make-up to conceal a black eye.
In that instance, Swanson claimed the boy was unbuckled from his car seat when she slammed on the brakes in her vehicle, and he flew forward. There were other times when the teacher noticed bruising on the child and Swanson continually made excuses.
Another witness said Hudak hit the boy when he was bad and Swanson also hit him when he cries and tells him to go to his room.
Copies of the messages Swanson sent claiming the boy fell at the park in November 2022, fell on the steps because he wouldn’t hold anyone’s hand in December 2022 and that he fell again on the steps in January 2023 were placed into evidence along with the photos taken at those times by the father.
An officer noted in his report that “it appears that the abuse is escalating.”
In her report a pediatrician from Geisinger, wrote that he had more than 15 bruises on his body, which to her indicated child abuse. She did not believe the injuries would be from falling down stairs or another child hitting him as was being claimed.
In May, Hudak pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of simple assault and was sentenced by Senior Judge Norman Krumenacker, to serve 24 months probation.
Hudak was also originally charged with two counts of felony endangering the welfare of a child, along with misdemeanor recklessly endangering another person.