A Carbon County man was sentenced to a state prison term on Thursday after pleading guilty to endangering the welfare of a child, his son.

Carbon Judge Steven R. Serfass rejected the recommendation of the district attorney's office and the plea of defense counsel for a county prison term and sentenced Michael S. Pringle, 32, of Weatherly to serve 18 to 36 months in a state correctional institution. The prison term will be followed by 36 months of probation.In a plea agreement District Attorney Jean A. Engler had recommended that the court impose a county sentence which was based on the time Pringle has already served on the charge. Defense Attorney Jennifer Rapa asked for a county sentence and that the court impose a provision for Pringle to receive mental health evaluation and treatment.Engler said Pringle has given up his parental rights to the child and his other children. She said the child is in pre-adoptive care.Serfass, however, rejected the request for county time. He said after he reviewed the presentence investigation report prepared by the adult probation office, considered all the facts contained in the police report and what he heard in court, he felt "the recommendation contained in the PSI is appropriate."Serfass said the victim was a "young, vulnerable child."Weatherly police charged Pringle on Nov. 21, 2014, after his 8-month-old son was found with bruising and evidence of not being properly cared for.According to the affidavit of probable cause, on Nov. 17 police were contacted by personnel of the Hazleton General Hospital in reference to possible child abuse. A nurse at the hospital told police a child was brought to the emergency room with marks around his neck, arms, feet and his head. It also appeared the child had been neglected as if he were left in a dirty diaper for a long period of time.Through the course of the investigation by police officer Michael A. Eyer, Pringle was interviewed at the police station.The arrest report states that Pringle admitted what he called "partial neglect" of the child. The affidavit states that Pringle admitted falling asleep several times while the child was in his care, one time he left the child asleep on an adult bed and that the child rolled off and fell about 3 feet to the ground. The report states that Pringle admitted that the bruising and red marks found on the child may have come from him "roughhousing" a little hard with the child.Pringle also told police he threw the child across a bed into the corner of the wall and the headboard. Pringle said a pillow and a blanket was in the corner of the bed where the child landed. The defendant couldn't say if any of the bruises found on the boy were from him throwing him, the police report states.Pringle also admitted to smoking marijuana around the child. He told officers when he would take the child for a walk in the stroller around town, he would smoke a marijuana joint. He also admitted to one incident when the child dropped his pacifier and he was smoking a joint. He said he got down next to the child within a foot or so and put the pacifier back into the child's mouth. Pringle told police he believed that the joint may have been close enough to the child for him to inhale it.Police also said Lancaster County Children & Youth had Pringle on supervised visitation with the child until August because he tested positive for narcotic use while caring for the child after he was born.In addition to the prison term Serfass ordered Pringle to get both drug and alcohol and mental health evaluations and follow any recommendations for treatment, zero tolerance imposed on D&A use, supply a DNA sample, and pay court costs of about $1,000.He was given credit for 485 days already spent in jail on the charges.