Babysitter sentenced to life imprisonment for hurting 3-year-old

(Tulsa-AP) -- A Tulsa County judge has ordered a woman to spend life in prison for inflicting a skull fracture and other injuries on a small child whom she was baby-sitting.

The judge says 34-year-old Crystal Renee Hoelscher was responsible for injuries that amounted to torture.

Hoelscher pleaded guilty in September to injuring 3-year-old Kaitlyn Fry. She was accused of punching and slapping the girl, slamming her head into a bathtub and burning her with a cigarette.

Hoelscher received a three-year probation in 1999 after she pleaded guilty to felony drug-possession charges. Based on that record, she faced a minimum of 20 years for the child-injury offense.

Prosecutors say the child has scars but no present complications related to the skull fracture or other physical injuries.