Shaffer
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The Pennsylvania Superior Court upheld the lengthy prison sentence for Natalie M. Shaffer who admitted she withheld food from her son for years.
Shaffer, 29, formerly of Pine View Estates, Rice Township, was charged by detectives with the Luzerne County district attorney’s office in February 2021, after officials at Greater Nanticoke Area School District contacted authorities due to the emaciated condition of the boy. The boy, then 6-years-old, weighed 20 pounds when taken into protective custody in January 2020.
When detectives served a search warrant at the Rice Township residence, they discovered four children, then ages 8, 7, 5 and 3, residing inside the house filled with broken or dismantled furniture, exposed electrical wires, debris blocking doors, dog feces and a single mattress where the four children slept.
Court records say Shaffer complained, “she was sick of taking care of this (expletive) kid,” and missed or canceled nearly 100 medical appointments for the boy.
Shaffer pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for neglecting to feed the boy and endangering the welfare of children for the condition of the residence.
Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas sentenced Shaffer to five-to-12 years in state prison.
Shaffer appealed her sentence calling it “excessive” as her troubled upbringing was ignored for a lower end sentence.
The Superior Court denied Shaffer’s appeal in a nine-page opinion, noting Lupas carefully analyzed legal arguments and Shaffer’s pre-sentence report before imposing the state prison sentence.
“(Lupas) is presumed to have been fully aware of (Shaffer’s) pertinent mitigating circumstances and to have considered them in fashioning her guideline range sentence. We find no merit to (Shaffer’s) challenge to the discretionary aspects of her sentence,” the appellate court ruled.
Shaffer’s paramour, Zachary Michael Vincent, 34, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children and was sentenced to four-to-12 years in prison followed by seven years probation. Vincent did not appeal his sentence.