Chapter 19 - Helena’s criminal case
Helena’s case took thirteen months.
No attempted murder.
No trafficking charge.
No bizarre child-labor prosecution based on one afternoon.
Prosecutors focused on what they could prove.
Intentional deprivation of appropriate care.
Coercive punishment of a three-year-old.
Threatening to withhold food.
Repeated prior age-inappropriate disciplinary conduct.
False internal records related to the Bentley incident became part of a separate business-record allegation.
The labor issues proceeded mostly civilly.
Helena pleaded guilty to:
One felony-level child-endangerment count.
One misdemeanor falsification count related to the garage incident record.
Other charges dismissed under the agreement.
Sentence:
Four months county custody.
Two years supervised probation.
Mandatory child-development and behavioral-intervention treatment.
No unsupervised caregiving of minors during probation.
Restitution for Leo’s counseling and medical expenses attributable to the incident.
A fine on the records offense.
No role supervising household employees during the probation period.
At sentencing, Helena said:
“I knew the maintenance cart caused the scratch.”
There.
“I still blamed Leo.”
There.
“I believed making him clean the car would teach him not to touch expensive things.”
There.
Then:
“I used food as pressure because he would not cooperate.”
There.
The judge asked:
“How old was he?”
“Three.”
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Nothing else needed adding.
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