Apr 19, 2016 1 min read

CHARLEROI – A Charleroi woman is facing charges she beat her stepgrandson with a belt in December before locking the 6-year-old boy in an unlit basement.

Charleroi Regional police were called into the case involving Mary Walker, 59, of 522 Third St., after employees of Charleroi Area Elementary Center notified Washington County Children and Youth Services about the boy having bruises “all over his body,” court records show.

CYS immediately took the boy into custody and placed him in foster care, police stated in the affidavit supporting the criminal charges against Walker.

The boy told investigators Walker warned him that he was getting a beating when he arrived home from school about 2 p.m. He said he took off all of his clothes except for his underwear and socks before he was beaten with the belt.

Police did not indicate how long the boy was locked in the basement.

Walker is charged with simple assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of children.

She will received the charges in a summons issued Tuesday by District Judge Larry Hopkins.