Man spared jail time in child abuse case

A man who pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of felony criminal endangerment for injuring an 11-month-old girl will not be spending any time in jail.

Dalton Lauria was sentenced to the Montana State Prison for seven years, with all of that time suspended. If he violates his probation during that seven-year period, he could then be sent to prison to serve up to the entire length of the sentence.

Lauria originally was charged with felony assault on a minor following an investigation into a doctor’s report made in April 2011 that indicated the girl had been abused because she had sustained many bruises and injuries.

A court document stated the doctor was shocked by the level of those injuries, including “bruising, scrapes, scratches and lesions covering her entire body from head to toe.” The doctor also reported bruising around the baby’s mouth that matched the outline of a pacifier.

Lauria’s sentencing hearing began March 21 with extensive testimony from the doctor as well as from Jacqueline Edwards, Lauria’s girlfriend and the mother of the child. She said she had known him for a little more than two years.

Deputy County Attorney Travis Ahner used Edwards’ testimony to help illustrate Lauria’s anger problem, which she admitted frightened her from time to time.

“I do get scared of Dalton sometimes, yes,” she said.

In addition to his suspended sentence, Lauria was ordered to take anger management and parenting classes, and he is barred from having any unsupervised contact with children under the age of 12 — including his own almost 1-year-old son — until he completes those classes.

Lauria also was ordered to undergo a chemical dependency evaluation and to follow any subsequent recommendations. He said staying off drugs would not be a problem, and that he had already stopped using them.

“I went to my old smoking buddy’s house and gave him all my paraphernalia,” Lauria told District Judge Robert Allison. “I didn’t know what else to do with it.”

Allison indicated to Lauria that now his friend was in possession of illegal drug paraphernalia, and he should probably tell his friend to get rid of it. Lauria said the person was not his friend anymore.

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.