A New London mother charged with leaving her 20-month-old son unattended in scalding bathtub water last month, where he suffered severe burns that left him with permanent scars, previously lost custody of the baby and his 4-year-old sister for a year due to neglect-related issues, according to city police.

Elizabeth Mendez-Marchany, 39, of 39 Bristol St. was arraigned Tuesday in New London Superior Court on charges of third-degree assault, risk of injury to a minor and providing a false statement.

Judge Omar A. Williams set her bond at $150,000 and transferred her case to the court where serious felonies are tried. She has retained defense attorney Carmine J. Giuliano.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit written by Detective Christopher Kramer, Mendez-Marchany called 911 at 11:12 a.m. on Sept. 20 to report her son had fallen into a bathtub and was having difficulty breathing.

Firefighters checked the baby and saw that he had burns on his face, buttocks, genitals and the bottom of his feet.

The child was treated at Lawrence + Memorial for first and second-degree burns over 40 percent of his body and was transferred to the Shriners Hospital in Boston due to the severity of his injuries.

Mendez-Marchany told Officer Deana Nott that the children's father, with whom she shares custody, had dropped them off hungry so she asked her roommate to go out for food and ran the tub for their baths.

After checking the water temperature and finding it "not hot enough to burn the victim," she said she undressed her son and went into an adjacent room to get a pair of underwear for her daughter.

She said she heard a splash from the bathroom and returned to find her son face-down in the bathtub.

She said she grabbed him out of the tub and he flailed his arms and legs and had his eyes and mouth wide open, "as if he were attempting to scream, but no sound was coming out."

She said she wrapped him in a towel and called 911.

Nott said that at the hospital, Mendez-Marchany did not seem concerned when she saw her son in the L+M trauma room with bandages around his head, ears, feet and thighs and attached to an oxygen machine.

Nott said the mother did not ask about accompanying him to Boston. 

The child's father cried when he saw him and said he would be traveling to Boston to be with him, Nott reported.

Interviewed later that day by Kramer, detective Sgt. Lawrence Keating and Youth Officer Max Bertsch, Mendez-Marchany gave a similar account of the incident, saying her son must have climbed into the bathtub while she was in the bedroom and the tub was filling.

She said when she took him out, the water felt hot.

The police learned Mendez-Marchany had called a repairman to the apartment on Sept. 13 and complained the water was not hot enough.

The repairman said he set the water at the high temperature at her request and showed her how to adjust it.

When the officers checked the water heater, they noted the thermostat was turned to the maximum setting and labeled with warning stickers saying that high temperatures could cause injury or death.

Sgt. Keating ran the hot water into the bathtub, where he reported the temperature rose to 135 degrees within a few minutes.

Dr. Alice Newton from the Shriners Hospital told the investigators the child's injuries were consistent with him sitting in the tub with his knees open and that the burns on his face appear to be from splashing water.

She said he would need many more surgeries, now and later in life, and that he would have permanent scarring.

Confronted again by police, Mendez-Marchany admitted she put the child in the tub, standing up, with the water running.

She said she left him unattended and went downstairs to get her daughter, returning after five to seven minutes.

She said she could hear her son crying as she walked back up the stairs, but he stopped crying and she passed by the bathroom.

She took her daughter into the bedroom, undressed her and put on a movie for the child before returning to the bathroom. 

She admitted to police that she was "flustered" and was not paying attention to the child and that "this was all her fault."

The child was released from the hospital on Oct. 13 to the custody of his father, who also has custody of the 4-year-old daughter.

The father told police that the Department of Children and Families had taken custody of the two children in February 2014 for "negligent related issues" and he and Mendez-Marchany regained custody in February 2015.

The police learned also that Mendez-Marchany has three other children, two of whom live with other family members and a third "who has been adopted due to neglect-related issues," according to the affidavit.

Marchany-Mendez's next court date is Nov. 30.

k.florin@theday.com

Twitter: @KFLORIN