FORT WORTH, Texas - One of two men videotaped coaxing two toddlers into smoking marijuana has pleaded guilty to reduced charges.
Vanswan Polty was sentenced today to up to seven years in prison.
He pleaded guilty to two charges of causing injury to a child, and three unrelated burglary charges before his trial began.
He had faced from five years to life in prison if convicted of the more serious charge he had faced, engaging in criminal activity.
Polty, 20, and Demetris McCoy, 18, were videotaped coaxing McCoy's then two- and four-year-old nephews into smoking marijuana.
McCoy was sentenced to eight years after pleading guilty to injury to a child and burglary charges this summer, and agreed to testify against Polty.
Police found the tape while searching a house during a burglary investigation in 2007. Drug tests performed on the youngsters revealed they had marijuana and cocaine in their systems.
The children, now four and six, are being adopted by another family after their mother terminated her parental rights late last year, said Marissa Gonzales, a Child Protective Services spokeswoman.
The mother has claimed she was asleep in another room at the time and was not charged in the incident.
