Joliet woman convicted of scalding her stepson in bathtub filled with extremely hot water

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April 4

JOLIET – Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow announced today that a 30-year-old woman who scalded her 3-year-old stepson in a bathtub filled with extremely hot water last year was convicted of aggravated battery of a child.

Nancy E. Delbosque, of the 900 block of North Prairie, Joliet, faces between six and 30 years in prison when she is sentenced for the Class X felony by Circuit Judge Richard Schoenstedt on June 7. Probation is not a sentencing option for Class X felony convictions.

Schoenstedt found Delbosque guilty following a three-day bench trial that concluded last week. The judge took his decision under advisement until Wednesday. 

Delbosque was accused of holding her stepson in the hot water on Feb. 11, 2006 and causing third-degree burns below the waist that peeled his skin. Police measured the temperature of water running out of the faucet at 150 degrees on the day of the child’s injury.

To cause those burns, Delbosque would have had to have held the child in 150-degree water for roughly 10 seconds, according to Dr. Richard Louis Gamelli, a medical expert who testified on behalf of the state. Dr. Gamelli is the head of pediatrics at Loyola University Medical Center.

Delbosque initially told police her stepson climbed into the bathtub on his own. She later stated in a taped interview with Joliet investigators that she placed the child in the water and that the screaming boy tried to get out of the bathtub by crawling up her arm.

She told police she had been experiencing a stressful day and that her stepson had refused to get in the tub for a bath.

“Nancy Delbosque deliberately caused horrific injuries to a little boy who relied on her to keep him safe,” Glasgow said. “I can’t think of a greater violation of trust.”

Glasgow credited Assistant State’s Attorneys Steve Platek and Jennifer Chang, who prosecuted Delbosque, and Joliet Detective Linda Odom, who led the police investigation, for building a case that left no doubt that this woman deliberately harmed her stepson.