On Monday, a woman from Kentucky with ties to Delphos was given three years in jail after pleading guilty in August to a third-degree felony charge of putting children in danger.
Assistant Prosecutor for Allen County Joe Everhart said that the state wanted Amber Carpenter, 34, to get the maximum sentence, which was three years in prison. However, Carpenter’s lawyer, Stephen Chamberlain of the Allen County Public Defender’s Office, fought for a probation sentence.
Carpenter claimed that she was high when she hit a one-month-old baby in September 2019, breaking the baby’s head to pieces. A victim impact statement from the child’s guardian was read in court before the sentence was handed down. It said that the child now has autism and behavioural delays because of what happened.
The statement from the victim said, “Children are not safe in her care, and no child should have to take that risk.”
At the Allen County Common Pleas Court meeting, the charges against Carpenter were also talked about. In 2011, Carpenter was charged with unlawful transaction with a minor, which is a first-degree felony, for giving drugs and alcohol to a 17-year-old girl in Kentucky.
“I’m not who I was five years ago,” Carpenter said as he said sorry and asked for forgiveness.
Carpenter does not have to serve her three-year prison sentence. After six months, she will be able to ask for judicial release. Carpenter is also told in the sentence that he can’t talk to the victim in any way.