(KNZA)--A Hiawatha man convicted on child abuse charges has been sentenced to more than 7 years in prison. 

Brown County Attorney Kevin Hill says 25-year-old Frankie Rodriguez was sentenced Monday to a total of 86 months in prison on charges of aggravated battery and felony child abuse, the maximum sentence possible.

He was found guilty on the felony charges following a bench trial in January.

Rodriguez was arrested in late August following an investigation by the Hiawatha Police Department and Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

The investigation was launched after a two-year-old child was brought to the Hiawatha Community Hospital August 26th with a severe head injury.  The child was later transferred to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.  

During his trial, Investigator Beau Hasenohr with the Hiawatha Police Department testified that Rodriguez admitted to investigators that after becoming upset with the child for not eating, he slammed the back of her chair to the floor, causing the child's head to hit the floor.  After the child stood up attempting to regain her balance, Hasenohr said Rodriguez then struck the child hard in the back of the head, rendering her unconscious.

After spending several months in critical condition, the child was released from the hospital in December.