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A 28-year-old Millcreek man has admitted causing the death of his 17-month-old step-son, as well as inflicting earlier injuries to the boy.

Codey Levi Jolley was charged in May in 3rd District Court with first-degree felony murder for the April death of Ethan Antes, and second-degree felony child abuse for scalding the boy about two weeks earlier.

On Friday, Jolley pleaded guilty to a lesser count of second-degree felony child abuse homicide, as well as the child abuse count.

Jolley faces the possibility of up to 15 years in prison on each count when he is sentenced on Oct. 11 by Judge Richard McKelvie.

The boy was fatally injured on April 29, according to charging documents. He was taken off life support at Primary Children's Hospital on May 1.

On April 29 at about 9 p.m., Jolley called 911 reporting he had found the boy face-down in the bathtub after leaving the bathroom for 15 to 20 seconds to check on a burrito cooking in the microwave, charges state.

But in his plea agreement document, Jolley wrote that he left the boy in the tub for "an extended time" before attempting CPR — which caused the child "to not breathe properly."

Jolley wrote that "the actions he took [that] caused cessation of breathing included inserting his finger in the child's mouth and compressing his chest so severely as to completely impair the child's ability to breathe."

Jolley also wrote that on a separate occasion, he "allowed the child to be burned severely by a hot shower that he was forcing the child to take."

Charging documents, however, contradict Jolley's bathtub story, noting that the boy's body and hair were dry, and the tub also was dry.

An autopsy revealed multiple bruises on the boys' body, as well as massive swelling of his brain. The autopsy doctor also noted the boy had healing facial burns.

Jolley had told police that the boy burned himself on April 13 by spilling hot coffee, charges state.

The boy's mother told police she was at a job interview when the scalding occurred. She also said that according to Jolley, the boy had fallen down the stairs and fallen out of his high chair, charges state.