Texas mother receives two years in prison for tearing son's scrotum in fit of anger

By Jim Forsyth

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A 34-year-old woman was sentenced in a U.S. federal court on Thursday to two years in prison for ripping a nearly two-inch (5 cm) tear in her 6-year-old son's scrotum during a fit of anger, and then trying to repair the wound with super glue.

Jennifer Marie Vargas was arrested last fall after the boy's father, a U.S. Army specialist stationed at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, returned home from work to find the boy crying.

He saw his son was bleeding and rushed him to a hospital, according to an FBI affidavit.

Vargas told investigators she was angry at the boy and "grabbed his scrotum and pulled as hard as she could," the affidavit said.

Vargas said she cleaned the wound with alcohol, tried to fix it with super glue and then stuffed paper towels inside the boy's underwear to stop the bleeding, it said.

She did not seek medical attention for the child. The case landed in federal court because it occurred on an Army post.

Vargas apologized to U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia in San Antonio before she was sentenced.

A federal prosecutor told the judge that Vargas and her husband had filed for divorce and her son has recovered.

(Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Bill Trott)