After taking care of her boyfriend’s son for years until he arrived at the hospital at the age of eight weighing less than forty pounds, an Oregon stepmother was given a sentence of slightly under two years in prison.
According to a news release from the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office, Jamie Strahm was convicted of two charges of first-degree criminal mistreatment earlier this month.
District Judge Leslie Bottomly sentenced Strahm to 20 months in prison for the second count and 90 days in jail for the first on Friday. A month short of two years, the sentences will run consecutively for a total of 23 months.
Prosecutors claim that Strahm began seeing the boy’s father in 2014. The youngster had a “unexplained brain injury” the next year when he was four years old, necessitating a hospital stay of several weeks. The boy was in the 85 percentile for boys his age at that time, weighing roughly 45 pounds. He brought a G-tube, which feeds food and nutrients into a child’s stomach, home from the hospital.
However, prosecutors said that the youngster “failed to thrive” under Strahm’s care during the following years and that he significantly lost weight. According to Strahm, her stepson required tube feeding since he refused to eat. The 7-year-old boy’s weight has fallen to the 13th percentile by April 2018. Strahm went on to miss a number of doctor’s visits.
In October 2019, she eventually took him to see a dietitian. Prosecutors said the 8-year-old weighed less than 40 pounds and was “extremely thin and frail.” He was brought to a pediatric hospital. He would eat by himself when Strahm was not present. Within a month, the kid gained 10 pounds, proving he didn’t require the feeding tube, and the hospital staff barred her.
She was found guilty by a jury on March 7. According to prosecutors, jurors concluded that the defendant “intentionally and knowingly withheld the necessary and adequate” food and medical care from the boy.
However, the sentencing did not sit well with the boy’s biological mother.
“How is it okay that she was younger than two years old?” NBC affiliate KGW in Portland was informed by Loreena Menzel.
Strahm expressed regret to the court during her punishment.
According to reports, she stated, “I just want the chance to be able to fix the mistakes I have made as a mom, to repair the damage that I have caused.”
Woman avoids serious jail time after 8-year-old stepson in her care weighs just 40 pounds.
