GREENFIELD — A Greenfield mother had the neglect charge she faced dropped to a misdemeanor as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, records show. She’ll serve a year on probation after admitting to the offense.
Jessica Nulliner of Greenfield and her husband, David Nulliner, were charged criminally earlier this year and accused of placing their kids in danger as well as depriving their oldest child of her education, according to court documents.
This week, Jessica Nulliner pleaded guilty to a Class A misdemeanor of neglect of a dependent, admitting that she didn’t make her daughter go to school. The charge was originally filed as a Level 6 felony but lessened as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, records show.
Two additional Level 6 felony counts of neglect of a dependent related to other accusations brought against Jessica Nulliner by investigators were dismissed in the agreement.
The woman was ordered to serve time on probation. She spent 14 days in jail following her arrested and that time has been applied to the sentence, records show.
David Nulliner’s case is pending, but a change of plea hearing has been scheduled for later this month.
In February, an anonymous report was made to the Indiana Department of Child Services, saying the couple had pulled their oldest child out of school and never enrolled her in a new program or started homeschooling her, court documents state.
The child had been out of school for at least four weeks when investigators intervened to get the girl back in school, police said.
But police were called in reference to the couple again in April, records show, when the girl showed up to school with concerning marks on her neck that seemed to be caused by fingernails, court documents state.
When questioned, the girl told investigators her father had grabbed her around the neck to pull her out from under a bed, according to police. She’d been hiding, she said, because she’d “called her mom, Jessica Nulliner, a bad name, and thought she was going to get spanked,” court documents state.
David Nulliner was charged with one Level 5 felony count of neglect of a dependent, two Level 6 felony counts of neglect of a dependent and one Class B misdemeanor of battery.
In light of the accusations against David Nulliner, all three children were taken to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis to be examined, court documents state.
The doctors there learned the couple’s infant was underfed, and discovered that Jessica Nulliner might have been giving her oldest daughter’s prescription Klonopin to one of the other children.
Jessica Nulliner explained these action by telling police a doctor told her the two children could share the pills — which are commonly used to treat anxiety — and to “knock down the (infant’s) formula” because the baby was suffering from acid reflux, court documents state.
The charges filed against Jessica Nulliner related to those accusations were dismissed in the plea deal she accepted, records show.