GREENFIELD — It took weeks to teach the boys that they didn’t need to search through the trashcan for food, she told the judge. It took months of therapy and meetings with doctors to teach them not to harm themselves or lash out at others.
They’ve gotten better; but they still struggle every day with what Telisa Parrish did to them, she said.
The foster mother currently caring for Parrish’s four young boys testified this week during an emotional sentencing hearing about the effects of the neglect Parrish has admitted to subjecting her children to.
The 29-year-old from Indianapolis — who was living in Greenfield when the allegations came to light — recently pleaded guilty to two counts of neglect of a dependent. She’ll serve a five-year sentence, with time spent on home detection and probation, a judge ordered this week.
The children came forward last year and told police Parrish was verbally and physically abusive to him and his siblings.
They said they were slapped, punched and at times struck with objects, like broomstick handles and belts, causing bumps and bruises, according to court documents. One child was reported burned with a cigarette by Parrish on at least one occasion, according to court documents.
She’d forced them to beg for money at a local gas station, then took the money and the family’s food stamps and used them to buy drugs, according to court documents. When she was high, she’d yell at them and beat them, the child told police.
One of the boys came to court with his foster mother this week to testify during Parrish’s sentencing hearing. A deputy prosecutor read aloud from a letter the boy had typed to the judge, in which he repeated many of the accusations. His foster mother, through tears, told the judge about the difficulties each child had faced, the stories they’ve told her and the pain they’ve expressed.
Both asked Hancock Circuit Court Judge Scott Sirk to send Parrish to jail for five years — the maximum sentence allowed for her crimes.
But Parrish’s defense attorney, Jim McNew of Greenfield, argued for leniency, citing progress Parrish has made in the 15 months since the charges were filed. She’s attended counseling, where she confronted her own painful childhood; she gotten a job and learned to live a drug-free life, McNew said.
Sirk told Parrish she’d earned the maximum sentence. Her crimes were appalling. She put drugs before her child, and the damage she caused might be unforgivable.
But his job is to assign the fairest punishment possible, the judge told the woman, before ordering that she spend a year on home detection followed by four years on probation.
Parrish’s boyfriend, David Nelson, of Indianapolis, faced charges connected to the same allegations.
He pleaded guilty in December to one count of neglect of a dependent and one count of false informing as part of an agreement with prosecutors. He agreed to serve a year and six months on probation. He’s spent nearly six months in jail by the time he was sentenced, officials said.
Sirk thanked the boy and his foster mother for their bravery. Coming forward and sharing their stories can’t have been easy, he said.
Sirk then spoke directly to child and begged him to learn from Parrish’s mistakes.
Too often, children who grew up in abusive homes, with parents who were drug-addicted fall into those same habits, just as Parrish admitted she had, Sirk said.
But the boy had the power to break that cycle, the judge told him.
“It stops here,” Sirk said.