Indiana man sentenced for neglect after rat attack on his infant son

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana man convicted of child neglect for a rat attack that left his 6-month-old son with disfiguring injuries has been sentenced to the maximum 16 years in prison.

A judge sentenced David Schonabaum, 32, on Wednesday after the Evansville man was convicted by a jury in September on three felony counts of neglect of a dependent.

Vanderburgh County Superior Court Judge Robert Pigman found no mitigating factors to reduce the sentence, the Evansville Courier & Press reported.

Prosecutor Diana Moers previously said her office would not hold back in pursuing the “highest possible sentence.”

The Associated Press left a telephone message and sent an email Thursday to Schonabaum’s defense attorney seeking comment.

Evansville police arrested Schonabaum and his wife, Angel Schonabaum, in September 2023 after David Schonabaum called 911 to report that his 6-month-old son had been severely injured by rats inside their residence, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The Indiana Department of Child Services had previously inquired about conditions in the home.

Investigators said the infant suffered more than 50 rat bites and required treatment at an Indianapolis hospital.

An Evansville police detective wrote in the affidavit that the four fingers and thumb on the child’s right hand “were missing the flesh from the top of them, exposing fingertip bones.”

After a jury convicted Schonabaum in September, Moers said paramedics and police had found “the infant was laying in his crib in a pool of blood and the bites were so bad on his body − including his face, mouth, and extremities − that they left bone showing on one hand and he is now permanently disfigured.”

Angel Schonabaum, 29, pleaded guilty to felony neglect charges in September, days before she was scheduled to stand trial. Her sentencing is set for Oct. 24.