Couple get probation for starving foster child
YOUNGSTOWN
An East Lucius Avenue couple accused of starving a foster child in their care in 2014 were sentenced Wednesday to five years’ probation in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Judge Maureen Sweeney also ordered that Marquis Allen, 32 and Cherie Jones, 25, complete parenting classes, perform 100 hours of community service a year for five years and they are barred from having any more foster children.
A grand jury indicted them on a child-endangering charge Sept. 3. Authorities said a foster child placed in their care gained just 1 pound after they had the child for several months.
The sentence was recommended by prosecutors. The charge is a third-degree felony, with a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
Jones and Allen took in the baby, whose mother was addicted to drugs. When they took the baby for a doctor’s visit in February 2015 when she was a year old, it was discovered the child had only gained a pound while in their custody.
After the baby was fed during the visit, she immediately gained a pound.
Read more about the case in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.