Ex-YPD cop Copeland sentenced for neglecting sister's care

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A former city police officer entered into the Mental Health Court on Thursday after she pleaded guilty for failing to care for an ailing sister.

Barbara Copeland, 60, entered a guilty plea before Judge Maureen Sweeney in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to the felony charge of failure to provide care for a functionally impaired person.

The Mental Health Court is a program designed to work with felony criminal defendants with mental-health issues who, as a result of their illness, come in contact with the justice system. Participants in the court go through a two-year program instead of jail time.

If defendants complete the court the charge against them is dismissed.

The coroner’s office ruled Fields’ death natural, listing a stroke as the cause of death, with malnutrition, dehydration and mental illness as contributing factors.

Fields weighed only 70 pounds when she died, the coroner’s report said.

Read more about the case in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.