Former New Jersey pastor sentenced for choking Kansas baby

<p>A former New Jersey church pastor has been sentenced for an unprovoked attack on a stranger's baby inside a Kansas Walmart.</p>

News 12 Staff

Jan 26, 2018, 12:15 PM

Updated 2,280 days ago

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OLATHE, Kan. (AP) -- A former New Jersey church pastor has been sentenced for an unprovoked attack on a stranger's baby inside a Kansas Walmart.
The Kansas City Star reports 55-year-old Oleh Zhownirovych was sentenced Thursday to 11 months in prison and six months in the Johnson County Jail, to be served consecutively.
Zhownirovych pleaded no contest in December to felony aggravated battery and misdemeanor battery.
In October 2016, Zhownirovych walked up to a woman waiting in a checkout lane at a Walmart in Overland Park and began choking her 4-month-old daughter. The woman screamed and several people came to her aid and got the baby away from him. The child was not seriously injured.
Zhownirovych is the former pastor of a Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Clifton, New Jersey.
___
Information from: The Kansas City Star
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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