Nappanee Man Gets Suspended Sentence In Neglect Case
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Amanda Bridgman-abridgman@timesuniononline.com
The man involved in the Nappanee child neglect case was sentenced Thursday.
Travis Wayne Tillotson, 1200 N. Main St., Nappanee, appeared in front of Kosciusko Superior Court I Judge David Cates and was sentenced to 18 months in the Kosciusko County Jail, all suspended, for a Level 6 neglect of a dependent conviction.
Tillotson is one of five people charged in the neglect case. The other four people are Rune Springer, 26, of 9872 E. King Arthur Trail, Cromwell; Fayette Robinette, 60, of 9462 N. Ind. 19, lot 24, Etna Green; Jammy Stacy, 42, Elkhart; and Annette Priestley, 60, White Pigeon, Mich.
Springer – who was the mother of the 2-year-old child – was sentenced Feb. 13 in Kosciusko Superior Court I to 2-1/2 years in the Kosciusko County Jail, all suspended to formal probation, for a Level 6 neglect of a dependent conviction, with the stipulation that she is mentally insane. Jury trials are pending for the other three accused in the crime.
On March 2, 2018, Nappanee police responded to 1200 N. Main St., Apt. 103, Nappanee, and found a child in need of medical attention. Officers identified the mother as Springer. Springer and Tillotson were married and lived together in the Nappanee home.
Springer told officers she did not cause the injuries to the child and the child had been in the care of another woman, Stacy, for about a year. Springer said Stacy dropped the boy at Springer’s house on March 1, 2018, with visible injuries, according to court papers.
Springer and Tillotson did not call police for approximately 32 hours after the boy was dropped off, according to court statements, because Stacy and Priestley said they would all be arrested for child abuse. Priestley was with Stacy when the boy was dropped off. Priestley is Stacy’s mother.
The boy was taken to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne, where he stayed in the intensive care unit for 10 days for being malnourished.
Parkview medical staff said the child had visible injuries in many stages of healing. According to police reports, a doctor said that the child’s injuries were life-threatening and were not accidental. The doctor said injuries to the child appeared to range from several months old to a few days old, and that if the child had not gotten treatment, he would have died within 48 hours. The injuries appeared to be the result of prolonged child abuse.
The investigation revealed that Springer had taken the child to Stacy in October 2017 to live with her, and Springer would only go visit him at Stacy’s residence for an occasional visit, with the last one being in December 2017.
Stacy told police during interviews the boy lived with her from October to March 1 and the child would occasionally stay the night at her aunt’s house – Robinette’s. Stacy also told police the child had visited regularly with Priestley during that time, and she knew the boy should have gotten medical attention and she would have if the child had been her own.
Kosciusko County Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Brad Voelz said Thursday that the state found no evidence that Tillotson ever harmed the victim. What Tillotson is guilty of, though, is a Level 6 felony neglect charge because of the delay in seeking help for the boy, he said. Voelz also commended Tillotson’s cooperation with prosecutors in the case.
“Because of Travis’s help during the investigation, we were able to accuse another person who was not initially known to be involved,” Voelz said.
Tillotson’s attorney, Dana Leon, said her client has been cooperative from start to finish, when he was originally facing a Level 3 felony charge.
Voelz also noted that Tillotson has appeared at every court hearing in the case, even if not his own, and said that Springer had failed to appear for one of her court dates and was later found in Arizona and brought back to the custody of the Kosciusko County Sheriff to be held without bail until her sentencing.
“I know I was stupid. I was scared,” Tillotson told the judge. “I apologize very deeply to this court and to the victim. You’ll never see me in this courtroom again unless it’s to help the prosecutors.”
A special term added to Tillotson’s probation rules was that he must contact the probation department once a week.
