Woman Who Allowed Boyfriend To Beat Her Son Gets 20 Years In Prison via Chicago Tribune A woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for allowing her 4-year-old son to be physically abused by her boyfriend and using make-up to hide the boy’s injuries, officials said. Amy Pherigo, 32, was convicted on Dec. 13 of aggravated battery to a child under the age of 13. She was sentenced Thursday by by Judge Michael McHale. Prosecutors alleged at her trial that Pherigo allowed her son to be beaten by Jose Morales, 26, who lived with Pherigo and her son and two other children in the 4400 block of South Fairfield Avenue. Prosecutors said Morales would care for the boy while Pherigo went to work and the other children were at school. Morales, who is awaiting trial, repeatedly injured the 4-year-old over a period of two months, State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said in a statement. Morales and Pherigo were charged after officers, acting on a tip, discovered the boy brutally beaten and lying in his bed unable to speak on April 29 last year. A blanket was covering his body and he was moaning, prosecutors said. The boy was taken to the hospital, where he was treated for hematomas to the brain, fractured ribs, lacerations to his liver and spleen as well as bruising to his face and body, prosecutors said. The boy told investigators that Morales beat him on numerous occasions, prosecutors said. The boy and Pherigo’s other two children testified that their mother would put makeup on the boy’s injuries to conceal them and would not allow him to leave the home during the day. Medical personnel testified that the boy’s injuries were caused by ongoing abuse that lasted a few weeks to a couple of months, prosecutors said. Pherigo was convicted by a jury that found her accountable for the abuse.
