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Father in 2017 Washington County child abuse case pleads guilty, receives year in jail

Posted at 2:39 PM, Apr 10, 2018
and last updated 2018-04-10 17:34:56-04

ST. GEORGE, Utah – A lingering chapter in a child abuse case out of Toquerville, Utah, that grabbed international headlines came to a close in court Tuesday with the guilty plea and sentencing of the victim’s father, the St. George News reported.

Washington County Lt. David Crouse said, “The child looked like he was the victim of a concentration camp from World War II.”

File photo: Outside the 5th District Courthouse in St. George, Utah, Feb. 10, 2017 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

Russell Jaynes, 41, the father of the victim, a 12-year-old child, also was responsible for saving the boy from abuse at the hands of his mother.

Officials said the Jaynes found the boy locked in an upstairs bathroom at the mother’s Toquerville home Jan. 8, 2017, and the boy had been for at least a year.

Authorities said the boy was so malnourished he could not stand up.

Jaynes appeared in 5th District Court Tuesday and pleaded guilty to third-degree felony child abuse that caused injury through negligence and recklessness.

He followed the plea with a request to be sentenced the same day rather than wait on a pre-sentencing report that would make sentencing recommendations to the judge.

Instead, Judge Eric Ludlow went by the sentencing recommendations agreed upon between the state and defense.

Jaynes is to serve 364 days in the Washington County Purgatory Correction Facility.

He may be released earlier if credited for good behavior while in jail.

Click here to read the full story from St. George News.

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