HUTCHINSON, Kan. – A Hutchinson man is on trial this week on charges he put his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son in a hot clothes dryer.
In a videotaped interview with detectives shown in court Wednesday, Aron Pritchard said he put the children in the dryer to show them they could have a good time without much money. An hour later, the dryer had become hot and the boy had second-degree burns.
Pritchard told the detective that he didn't mean for the boy to get hurt.
Jurors also heard from a pediatrician who testified that the burns, combined with prior injuries including a twice-broken clavicle, could indicate an abusive environment.
Pritchard is charged with aggravated child endangerment and child abuse in the Nov. 28, 2006, incident.
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