LIMA — A Kentucky woman with ties to Delphos pleaded guilty Monday to a charge of endangering children as part of a negotiated deal with prosecutors.
Amber Carpenter, 34, will be sentenced Sept. 30 on the third-degree felony charge. She faces a maximum of 36 months in prison but could be sentenced to a term of community control.
Prosecutors allege Carpenter in September 2019 struck a one-month-old child. The infant reportedly suffered a skull fracture.
Carpenter was indicted in April 2023 by a grand jury on a second-degree felony charge of felonious assault and two counts of endangering children, felonies of the second- and third-degree. During Monday’s hearing in Allen County Common Pleas Court, Carpenter agreed to plead guilty to the endangering charge in exchange for the state’s dismissal of the remaining counts.
Following that plea, attorney Steve Chamberlain of the Allen County Public Defenders Office asked that his client be let out of jail on bond pending sentencing. Prosecutor Destiny Caldwell objected, saying Carpenter is a “flight risk” due to her ties to Kentucky and is “a danger to the community and to her children” based on the circumstances of the case and her previous conviction for which she served three years in jail.
The woman gave birth to twins while incarcerated.
Judge Jeffrey Reed denied the defense motion for a reduction in bond and ordered a pre-sentence investigation to be conducted.