Tripplett gets 27 years for beating, whipping, burning 4-year-old son

YOUNGSTOWN

The more he spoke at his sentencing after being convicted of beating, whipping and burning his 4-year-old son, Wesley Triplett dug himself a hole that was getting deeper and deeper.

Even Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court warned him Thursday to quit talking, as Triplett, 30, apologized for the injuries his son received and lamented the fact he did not do more to prevent them.

It took a jury only 40 minutes Tuesday to conclude Triplett did inflict beatings, fractures and whippings on a son he only knew for four months.

“You make it worse by saying this stuff,” Judge Krichbaum said. “Honest to God, you make it worse.”

Triplett, of Dearborn Avenue, was sentenced to the maximum sentence allowable, 27 years in prison, after a jury found him guilty of felony counts of domestic violence and endangering children.

Jennifer McLaughlin, an assistant county prosecutor, told the judge Triplett denied being the boy’s father for most of the boy’s life until December, when he had custody of the boy.

The boy was only with him four months before the county Children Services learned of his injuries and Triplett was charged and arrested, McLaughlin said.

Patty Amendolea of Children Services told the judge the boy had a burn on his elbow that may leave a permanent scar, fractured ribs, a fractured elbow and his back was covered with welts from being whipped with a cord.

She said he often asks, “Miss Patty, why did daddy hurt me?”

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