WARSAW — Sarah A. Mills, Claypool, was sentenced today, Monday, July 20, to three years in the Indiana Department of Corrections for neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury. However, instead of a level 3 felony as initially charged, a plea agreement resulted in the charge being a level 5 felony — a lesser included charge.

Kosciusko Circuit Court Judge Michael Reed suspended 1 1/2 years of the sentence to be served on probation. She was also given jail time credit of 273 days. She will serve her probation sentence first, followed by the remaining time, approximately 274 days, in jail. Should she violate probation, the entire sentence will be served. Mills has been incarcerated since Feb. 15 on an unrelated charge.

Mills was arrested on Sept. 7, 2014, after she allegedly delivered a baby with methamphetamine present in the female infant’s system. According to a release at the time of her arrest, officers and detectives were called to the hospital at 10:30 a.m. regarding the child’s birth. Officers were informed Multi-Township EMS had responded to the address of 7094 S. CR 100E, Claypool, where a female was in labor in the front yard of the residence.

Hospital authorities told police a preliminary test, on the mother and her newly born child, had shown the presence of meth in both their systems. The child was immediately transferred to Lutheran Hospital, Fort Wayne, where the female infant was in serious condition.

Reed noted there was some serious thought and reasons for the plea agreement, before he issued the sentence.

Mills sentence is to run consecutive – one after the other – to two probation violation charges, one in Kosciusko County on a conversion charge in which she was ordered to serve 90 days on Jan. 5, 2015 and another violation charge out of Starke County on possession of a narcotic drug. During the court hearing it was noted Mills served from Sept. 7, 2014, to Jan. 5, 2015, and Feb. 15, 2015, to today’s date in the county jail.