Advertisement East Pittsburgh couple face trial after mother allegedly puts cigarettes out on 2-year-old Criminal complaint says woman's boyfriend laughed as it was happening Share Shares Copy Link Copy

A woman cried and her boyfriend said, "I love my kids," as the East Pittsburgh couple entered a courtroom Tuesday to face criminal charges stemming from an alleged incident of child abuse.Anna Russell, 19, and Enrique Soto, 25, were ordered to stand trial after District Judge Scott Schricker heard testimony at Tuesday's preliminary hearing. They are being held in the Allegheny County Jail, charged with aggravated assault, child endangerment and criminal conspiracy.VIDEO: Watch Shannon Perrine's reportRussell did not comment outside court. Her mother said the woman never would have done what the criminal complaint alleges -- putting cigarettes out on a 2-year-old boy. She also said Soto would not have laughed about it, as the complaint alleges.The defense suggested that the marks on the boy's body could have been bug bites."My understanding is when the children were presented on August 8th, the original ER doctor released them and said he could not conclude that they were burns, and it was only three days later that a different doctor made a different conclusion that they were in fact cigarette burns," said Veronica Brestensky, defense attorney for Russell.According to the complaint, a doctor at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC discovered what happened to a 2-year-old boy whose grandmother brought him to be examined in August.The doctor who did the examination "found with a high degree of medical certainty that these wounds were consistent with cigarette burns," according to the complaint.The complaint also says, "Whoever inflicted these wounds upon did so intentionally, knowingly and recklessly,"The complaint indicates that the alleged abuse happened at the Highland Manor apartments in East Pittsburgh.The complaint says there were at least 15 burn marks on the 2-year-old's legs, left hand, left arm, neck, back and face.The boy and his sister were placed into foster care after that examination, according to the complaint.Case workers then interviewed the 3-year-old sister in January. She told them she saw the whole thing happen.The 3-year-old said it was her mother, Russell, who was putting the cigarettes out on the 2-year-old, telling the case worker that Soto, her mother's boyfriend, "laughed the whole time her brother ," according to the complaint.Allegheny County detectives observed another examination of the child at the hospital in March, and an arrest warrant for Soto and Russell was issued April 6."I think that's terrible. No child should have to go through that," said June Klein, a mother and grandmother who lives in the same neighborhood.Klein she can't imagine the allegations, let alone being so close to her home."We have pretty good people here," she said.Soto and Russell have been arrested and are currently at the Allegheny County Jail awaiting preliminary hearings next week.Get the WTAE Pittsburgh's Action News 4 App