43
Pair sentenced to probation in child endangering case
By Joe Gorman
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 be 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 gained only a pound while in their custody.
After the baby was fed during the visit, she immediately gained a pound.
Jennifer McLaughlin, an assistant county prosecutor, said at first it was thought the baby was suffering from failure-to-thrive syndrome, but the fact the baby gained weight so quickly after receiving proper care led investigators to believe the couple was not providing her with proper care.
McLaughlin said neither Jones nor Allen has a criminal record, and that was a big factor in recommending probation. She also said she wants them to take parenting classes because they have another child, and the state wants to make sure they know how to properly care for that child.
Brittney Averhart, the baby’s case worker from the Mahoning County Children Services Board, said the baby had missed several developmental milestones before she was examined at a year old. Now 2, the child seems to be caught up, but Averhart said doctors have advised the child’s development needs to be closely monitored because of the failure to gain weight the first year of her life. She said the baby has been placed with another foster family and is doing well.
Atty. Tony Meranto, Jones’ lawyer, said he thinks Jones was overwhelmed after the baby was placed with them.
Meranto also said that besides the couple not being ready to take the child, perhaps the CSB could have done a more-thorough investigation before placing the baby with them.
“I’m very sorry for anything we may have done to her,” Jones said. “I wish we were better prepared before we took her in.”