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Warren judge sentences woman to jail as ‘attention grabber’
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Judge Terry Ivanchak of Warren Municipal Court says he took the unusual step of sending a woman to jail earlier this week for six months as an “attention grabber” after finding her guilty of child endangering and animal cruelty.
Judge Ivanchak sentenced Brandi L. Davis, 25, of Van Wye Street Southeast to three years’ probation in June after her three children were found to have “head-to-toe flea bites” and no food in a house that also contained two undernourished dogs.
Davis admitted to police she had used heroin that day.
The children, age 8, 10 and 11, were sent to live with relatives, and she signed over two of the dogs to the county dog pound. She was ordered to have no contact with the children unless approved by Trumbull County Children Services.
But the other reason the judge sent her to jail Tuesday was that two months after he ordered her to get counseling for substance abuse and follow other social-service agency recommendations, she failed to do any of it.
“This absolutely was an attention getter,” the judge told The Vindicator. “I told you to do these things, and you did nothing,” he remembers telling Davis.
A drug-treatment facility made appointments for her to report for drug screens, and she didn’t report. She also didn’t attend appointments for substance-abuse assessments.
Children Services attempted to visit her home several times, but she wasn’t cooperative, the judge said. Social workers say her home is still infested with fleas.
At her sentencing in June, Davis was sentenced to 180 days in jail with all but 14 days previously served suspended.
Even at that hearing, the judge took the additional step of ordering Davis back to his courtroom two months later for a progress report because she seemed like a “high risk for noncompliance,” the judge said.
Judge Ivanchak said most defendants at least make some attempt to get treatment, even if they “slip” back into substance abuse.
But by not cooperating with the agencies trying to work with her, she was making no progress toward getting her children back, the judge said.