North Andover Couple Convicted of Abusing Baby

A North Andover couple was found guilty of abusing a 5-month-old baby in Salem Superior Court Thursday, The Boston Globe is reporting.

The trial was a bench trial, which means it was decided by a judge, not a jury. Judge Richard Welch heard the case.

Prosecutors say Steve Amos, 34, assaulted the baby multiple times and his girlfriend at the time -- Heather Dragotta, 33, the child's mother -- allowed the abuse to happen when the couple lived together in North Andover in 2010.

Amos was convicted of three counts of assault and battery on a child with injury and three counts of permitting injury to a child, District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett's office confirmed. Dragotta was convicted of one count of permitting injury to a child.

Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 5.

In June 2010, the baby was rushed to Lawrence General Hospital with a brain hemorrhage -- determined to be the result of shaking the baby violently -- as well as almost two dozen fractures.

Dragotta has insisted that the injuries were the result of vitamin deficiencies and not abuse.