Orem man pleads guilty to child abuse

PROVO — An Orem man accepted a plea deal Monday for beating his girlfriend's 23-month-old son last year.

Jason R. Arias, 24, pleaded guilty to intentionally inflicting serious physical injury on a child, a second-degree felony, before 4th District Judge Darold McDade. A similar count stemming from a previous incident was dismissed.

Arias faces one to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 16.

Arias was watching the baby boy on Dec. 30 while the boy's mother was at work, according to court documents. He called his girlfriend to say the child had a bruise on his head from falling off a table and "was not doing very well."

When the mother took the boy to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center the next morning, medical personnel found multiple fresh bruises and red marks on the child's head and body, court documents state.

Arias admitted later to hitting the child at least twice with an open hand on the right side of the face, as well as punching the child in the stomach and spanking him hard enough to cause bruises.

— Paul Koepp