Mother gets prison for duct-taping son to chair
By Justin Wier
YOUNGSTOWN
A Mahoning County judge told a woman before him for sentencing he wouldn’t treat his dog the way she treated her child.
Susan Malysa, 33, of Boardman, received a nine-month prison sentence for duct-taping her 12-year-old son to a chair while she took another child swimming.
A relative alerted police after she went to check on him and found him in the basement with duct tape over his mouth and securing his arms and legs to the chair.
He told police he hadn’t been there long.
Jennifer McLaughlin, an assistant county prosecutor, called the case “shocking” but added the child did not suffer injuries.
Still, she felt Malysa deserved punishment.
“I can’t imagine the helplessness and fear he experienced, not knowing when his mother would return,” McLaughlin said.
Atty. Ron Yarwood, who represented Malysa, attributed his client’s actions in part to mental-health issues and underscored that Malysa did not harm the child.
Still, Yarwood said to call the incident a lack of judgment would be an understatement.
“She has a conscience. It bothers her. She has a sense of remorse about what she did,” Yarwood said.
Malysa became tearful as she apologized and expressed regret for her actions.
“There’s nothing I can do to make up for anything I did,” she told the court.
Judge R. Scott Krichbaum questioned how she could do the things she did to a child she claimed to love.
He described becoming frustrated with his 9-month-old puppy but never treating it the way Malysa treated her son.
“I can’t even begin to imagine someone doing something like this to a child,” he said.
Judge Krichbaum sentenced Malysa to nine months in prison with three years’ parole upon release. He also ordered her to avoid interacting with her son, who is in the custody of Children Services.
While prosecutors recommended 60 days in county jail as a condition of probation, Judge Krichbaum said Malysa should go to state prison because society cannot tolerate her conduct.
The child delivered a statement describing a litany of abuses. He said his mother hit him with a hammer and pushed him down a staircase.
Boardman police took a report in 2016 in which the child accused Malysa of hitting him with a hammer.
Prosecutors said Children Services investigated the claims and was unable to substantiate them.
Judge Krichbaum said he did not consider the claims when sentencing Malysa.