By Liz Shepherd
InkFreeNews

Jammy Stacy

WARSAW — A three-day jury trial for the sole caregiver of a child who suffered life-threatening injuries in Nappanee is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 4, in Kosciusko Superior Court One.

Jammy Stacy, 43, 611 E. Carlton Ave., Elkhart, is charged with neglect of a dependent, a level 3 felony.

If found guilty, Stacy could receive three to 16 years in prison. The advisory sentence is nine years.

The child’s mother, Rune Springer; and stepfather, Travis Tillotson, have been sentenced in this matter.

Annette Priestley, 60, White Pigeon, Mich.; and Fayette Robinette, 60, 9462 N. SR 19 Lot 24, Etna Green, are also defendants in this case.

According to court documents, on March 2, 2018, Nappanee Police responded to a report of a child in need of service at 1200 N. Main St. Apartment 103, Nappanee.

Officers discovered a boy who was injured and in need of medical attention.

Springer said that she did not cause the injuries to the child as he had been in Stacy’s care for approximately one year.

One day earlier, Stacy and her mother, Priestley, dropped the child off at Springer’s residence with visible injuries all over his body. Springer said she did not call the police because Stacy told her not to, as they would both be arrested for child abuse. Tillotson was shocked to see the child’s injuries and wanted to get him medical treatment, but Springer convinced him not to and he agreed with her.

The child was then taken to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne for treatment. Medical staff said the child had visible injuries in many stages of healing, showing injuries occurring over an extended time period.

The child had multiple pieces of his scalp missing, ranging from 1/2 inch to 2 inches. His septum on his nose had been cut out, and what appeared to be fingernail marks were dug into his left cheek and scabbed over. Both of the child’s arms were broken in multiple places and his arm sockets were broken to the point where the child was unable to raise his hands over his shoulders.

His teeth were broken from trauma and his lower lip had been cut deep. The child was also underweight and malnourished. His injuries appeared to range from several months old to a few days old.

According to court documents, officers spoke with Dr. Jayesh Patel, who said the child’s injuries were life-threatening and not accidental in nature. Dr. Patel said if the child didn’t receive treatment at that point, he would have died within 48 hours.

The broken bones in the child’s arms appeared to be less than six months old. His head injuries caused bleeding on the brain.

In October 2017, Springer had taken the child to Stacy to live with her. Stacy said she was the sole caregiver for the child from October 2017 until March 1, 2018. She said the child would spend the night occasionally with her aunt, Robinette. Stacy said she knew she should have gotten the child medical attention for his injuries and would have if the injuries would have been to her own son.

Stacy also gave consent for officers to search her phone. They discovered photographs of the child, proving that his injuries occurred in the time period where Stacy was the sole caregiver. The timestamps also show that Robinette and Priestley would have had contact with the child in the time his injuries were visible and took no action to seek medical help for the child.

Springer was sentenced in this matter on Feb. 13, receiving a 2 1/2 year suspended sentence for a level 6 neglect of a dependent charge.

Tillotson was sentenced in this case on Feb. 27, receiving a 1 1/2 year suspended sentence for a level 6 neglect of a dependent charge.

Priestley has a pretrial conference for this case at 8 a.m. Monday, Aug. 17. Robinette has a two-day jury trial in this case at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 13.