Fayette mother gets 5-10 years for child abuse

A Fayette County woman accused of beating her two young daughters with a spatula and an electrical cord was sentenced Friday to five to 10 years in prison.

Patricia Mudery, 22, of 803 Surrey Hill Apartments, Uniontown, allegedly held her daughters down as her boyfriend beat them with his fists, an electrical cord and a spatula. She entered a negotiated guilty plea earlier this week.

Mudery's former boyfriend, John Hibbard, 18, of Uniontown, was sentenced last month to four to 20 years in prison for his part in the beatings.

The girls were 2 and 3 years old at the time. They are now in protective custody. The assaults occurred over a two-month period in 1999.

The girls were taken to an emergency room twice in June 1999, where doctors observed multiple bruises all over the girls' bodies.

Mudery said little at the proceeding and appeared calm.

She pleaded guilty to two counts each of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children, and one count of criminal conspiracy.

Mudery was given credit for time served by Judge Gerald R. Solomon.