Waukegan man gets 2 years for beating child

A Waukegan man was sentenced to two years in prison Monday after he admitted beating a girl multiple times over a six-year period.

Romero Latham, 50, pleaded guilty to aggravated battery to a child during a hearing before Lake County Associate Judge Daniel Shanes.

Assistant State's Attorney Ryan Koehl said Latham, of the 200 block of Washington Street, was acquainted with the girl's mother between 2004 and last June.

The girl told police that starting in 2004, when she was 4 years old, Latham would strike her frequently with an electrical cord.

Police took photographs of scars on the girl's arms and legs, Koehl said, that nurses at Children's Memorial Hospital in Milwaukee confirmed could have been made with a cord.

Latham was interviewed by police and told them he had struck the girl with the cord during the course of disciplining her.

He was arrested Sept. 14 and has been held on $500,000 bond ever since.

Koehl said Latham could have faced up to five years in prison if convicted after a trial.