New York Mom Allegedly Put Son, 7, in Oven as Punishment

AIRMONT, N.Y. – Police arrested a woman Friday after her 7-year-old son told authorities she burned him in an oven, and a day-care worker was arrested for not reporting the attack, authorities said.

The mother, 26-year-old Tiffany Fraser of Tallman, was charged with assault and endangering a child, authorities said.

Police began investigating after the boy was spotted alone at a shopping center and told officers he had run away because "his mother had put him in an oven and burned him as a punishment," according to police reports.

The day-care worker, 37-year-old Joelle Lherisson, was charged with failure to report child abuse. Both Fraser and Lherisson were arraigned in Airmont Village Court and released until their next court dates.

Lherisson told WCBS-TV that the boy showed no signs of abuse, and she had taken good care of him.

"There was nothing wrong with the child," she said.

Fraser's lawyer, Edward Cigna, declined to comment. There was no phone listing for Fraser.

Lt. Brad Weidel of the Town of Ramapo police force, which covers Airmont, said the boy's burns — on his nose, arm, hand and left leg — were noticed at a daycare center owned by Lherisson in July, but Lherisson did not report them.

When the boy reported the oven incident at the shopping center, he and a sibling were removed from their home by the Rockland County children's agency and police began an investigation that led to both arrests, Weidel said.