CLOVIS, N.M. (AP) A 40-year-old Clovis man faces up to 16 years in prison after being sentenced on child abuse convictions for using a stun gun on his two young foster children multiple times over two months. Michael Vargas was sentenced Thursday in state District Court on his June 11 convictions on 24 counts of child abuse.
The children told a social worker at their elementary school in 2010 that they were being punished with a stun gun.
District Attorney Matthew Chandler says Vargas was a foster parent of the children and that they had at least 24 burn marks to their stomachs and arms. Chandler says Vargas must serve at least 85 percent of his 16-year sentence before being eligible for parole.
