A Pennsylvania woman is off to prison after she beat a 9-year-old girl into a state of such pain and discomfort that she couldn’t sleep at night and instructed her at one point in the brutal beating to “die.”.
Esmeralda Lugo, 36, was sentenced this week to four to eight years in state prison after pleading guilty last month to the January 2024 beating, the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office said. The DA’s office released a press release on Wednesday detailing the charges filed against Lugo and what she admitted to doing last year.
(Lugo) struck the child victim several times in the face with the back of a brush at her home in the 100 block of Kloss Drive on the night of Jan. 24, 2024,” the DA’s office stated. “The attack left the victim with a visible injury to the eye, which Lugo tried to cover up with various methods including ice, makeup, salt and butter.
The DA’s office reported that a school counselor reported the purported assault after the victim arrived two days later and informed a staff member. Manor Township Police and Lancaster County Children & Youth removed the child, along with an infant sibling, from Lugo’s residence later that day.
“Telling police, the victim complained that the hurt from her injuries was so bad that she couldn’t sleep on the bruised side of her face,” the DA’s office stated. “Lugo also struck the victim in the back of the head and put her hands around the victim’s neck as if she was choking her and saying the word ‘die’ over and over … The victim complained to investigators that she couldn’t breathe for approximately 10 seconds as Lugo choked her.”
A judge convicted Lugo this week of aggravated assault and strangulation. She will not be eligible for parole until after serving a minimum of four years in prison.
