Woman gets probation in child-endangering case

YOUNGSTOWN — A Dogwood Lane woman was sentenced to two years’ probation after pleading guilty to child endangering and obstructing justice in a case involving serious injuries to her 2-year-old daughter.

Judge Timothy E. Franken of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court imposed the sentence Thursday on Genelle White, 26, ordering that she report monthly to a probation officer and take parenting classes during her time under supervision.

Dawn Krueger, assistant county prosecutor, said White waited too long to seek medical attention for her daughter, who suffered a cut liver, bruised pancreas and broken pelvis.

Krueger had recommended probation for White because of her testimony against her boyfriend, Ronald L. Henderson, 30, of Parkview Avenue.

A jury convicted Henderson this month of a misdemeanor child-endangering charge, but acquitted him of rape, felonious assault and a felony-level child-endangering charge regarding the same girl.

Last week, Judge Franken sentenced Henderson to time he’d already served in jail. That sentence was 180 days, but Henderson had already been jailed 196 days awaiting court action in the case.

The child was taken to Forum Health Tod Children’s Hospital on Jan. 8, 2006, with facial injuries and bruises on her legs and abdomen and on the bottom of her feet. After hospital staff discovered the girl had internal injuries, including bleeding, she was flown to Akron Children’s Hospital.