FATHER OF ADOPTED 3-YEAR-OLD GOING TO PRISON

Judge sentences Toledo man to 30 months for abusing child

Joshua Waxler is handcuffed after being sentenced by Judge Myron Duhart in Lucas County Common Pleas Court. Waxler had entered an Alford plea to one count of endangering children.

Though his attorney asked the court for probation, a Toledo man captured on video physically and verbally assaulting a 3-year-old girl he and his wife adopted was sentenced Tuesday 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. The judge said he had viewed the video and found it appalling.

“Those are the actions of an animal — one who preys on the weakest in 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, but her attorney, Keith Mitchell, asked 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.

Waxler’s attorney, Andrew Schuman, told the court the couple’s children — including a new baby recently born to them — have been taken by Lucas County Children Services. He said Waxler had taken part in several parenting classes and was “not at risk for re-offending” because he was now in a childless home.

Waxler told the judge there was no excuse to justify what he did but that he was resolved to create a better future and hoped he would give him a second chance.

Judge Duhart questioned what might have happened if the incident had not been caught on video and exposed to the public.

“What exacerbates the circumstances is that you knew those children had been taken from their biological parents because of neglect and abuse and then to come to your home and suffer it again so now they’ve dealt with it twice,” he said. “No child should have to deal with that.”