A former Fort Campbell soldier has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison after badly burning a baby with hot water and failing to get medical treatment.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee, 29-year-old Andrew Garasich of Pennsylvania will spend the next 12 years in prison, followed by four years of supervised release, after being found guilty on charges of aggravated child neglect.
In 2022, while a sergeant in the U.S. Army stationed at Fort Campbell, Garasich reportedly bathed his two-month-old infant in water so hot that the baby was severely burned, and then did not take the child to receive medical treatment. The infant would not be taken for treatment for five days, and when he was finally taken to Houston County Community Hospital in Erin, Tennessee, they immediately transferred him to Vanderbilt University Medical Center due to the severity of his injuries.
Along with partial to full thickness burns across his body, the infant also had a skull fracture.
The baby is now in a loving home and has recovered, but officials say he will face lifelong struggles.
There is no parole in the federal system—the child’s mother, Lyndsey Bustamente, will be sentenced in August.