MARION, Ohio (WSYX) — A Marion man has pleaded guilty in the mauling death of his infant son by the family’s pit bull last year.

The Marion County prosecutor’s office announced in a statement Thursday that Blake Bates had pleaded guilty to several charges, including involuntary manslaughter.

Bates’ dog “Kilo” mauled 6-month-old Royal Bates at their home in Marion in April of last year. The boy died at a hospital a short time later.

The boy’s mother, Alyssa Smith, has pleaded guilty to child endangering and awaits sentencing.

Prosecutors revealed that Bates had ignored warnings about the dog’s aggression after a previous attack on a child from the neighborhood months earlier.

“This guilty plea holds Bates accountable for a preventable horror that stole an innocent baby’s life,” Marion County Prosecutor Raymond Grogan said.

On the day that Kilo killed Bates’ son, Bates and Smith had “left the infant unattended with only a young child nearby,” according to the statement. The other child was Smith’s child, and, the statement said, “was incapable of proper supervision.”

The dog was later euthanized.

Bates faces up to three years in prison for manslaughter and additional sentencing for prior crimes, including strangulation and attempted escape.