After pleading guilty in the death of a 21-month-old child in Portage, a Gary man now faces up to 30 years in prison at his Oct. 21 sentencing.
Christopher Shaffer, 21, of the 4300 block of West 23rd Court in Gary, pleaded guilty Tuesday to the highest charge against him, Level 1 felony neglect of a dependent, and could be sentenced up to 40 years including probation, but his plea agreement places a 30-year cap on incarceration.
A Level 1 felony is Indiana’s highest felony charge besides murder.
In exchange for Shaffer’s plea, the state will drop a Level 2 felony battery charge for Shaffer’s alleged responsibility in the death of Juanzo Vargas Jr. of East Chicago on Sept. 4, 2014, while the child was visiting relatives in a Portage mobile home park.
Shaffer, who was friends with the family and staying overnight, shared a bed with the infant and was the only adult present in the bedroom, although a 6-year-old relative of Shaffer’s slept on the other side of the child, according to statements to police documented in the probable cause affidavit.
Shaffer gave conflicting statements to police, eventually admitting to punching what he thought was a cushion early that Saturday morning because of what he later said were “night terrors,” the probable cause affidavit states.
He also told police that when he realized it was Vargas he punched, Shaffer rolled over and went back to sleep “because it was too late.”
The boy had an increasing number of bruises on his face, head and abdomen after he was taken to Porter Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:25 a.m. that Saturday.
The death pronouncement came about an hour after police responded to the 911 call, court documents state.
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An autopsy determined the cause of death as blunt force trauma, according to the probable cause affidavit.
James D. Wolf Jr. is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.