Man gets 30 months in prison for assaulting adopted daughter

4/23/2013

A Toledo man captured on videotape physically and verbally assaulting a 3-year-old girl he and his wife adopted was sentenced today to 30 months in prison.

Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Myron Duhart ordered Joshua Waxler, 25, of 739 Western Ave., to be taken into custody immediately.

He said he had watched the videotape and found it appalling.

“Those are the actions of an animal – one who preys on the weakest of the community -- and there’s only one place for animals and that’s to be locked up,” the judge said.

Waxler’s wife, Courtney, also was to have been sentenced today but her attorney, Keith Mitchell, asked the court for a one-week delay. Judge Duhart agreed, scheduling her sentencing for April 30.

The Waxlers each entered an Alford plea last month to one count of endangering children for the February, 2012, incident that took place in the Seaman Street home they previously occupied. Prosecutors said a family member placed a cell phone under a bed and recorded an incident in which the young girl was struck repeatedly, knocked to the floor, and verbally abused for placing paper in a vent.

The couple’s children – including a new baby recently born to them – have been taken from them by Lucas County Children Services.