SF man found guilty of child abuse

Posted: Wednesday, May 26, 2010 9:04 pm

A South Fulton man was found guilty Tuesday on a trio of charges stemming from a July 2009 incident in which a 2-month-old baby sustained injuries.
Walter Andrew Ware was found guilty of aggravated child abuse, aggravated child neglect and aggravated child endangerment, all Class A felony offenses, following a two-day jury trial in Obion County Circuit Court.
Sentencing was set for July 2, according to Circuit Court Clerk Harry Johnson.
A second person charged in the case, Jaclyn Cheri Elendt of Big Sandy, has not yet gone to trial and has a report date scheduled for June 11 in Circuit Court.
Ware and Ms. Elendt were both indicted by the October 2009 term of the Obion County grand jury on charges of aggravated child abuse, aggravated child neglect and aggravated child endangerment in connection with injuries their baby had sustained.
They were initially arrested July 30, 2009, and each charged with one count of aggravated child abuse after a Union City Police Department investigator responded to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Union City in reference to a possible child abuse.
According to a police report, the investigator spoke with a doctor about a 2-month-old child who had been brought to the emergency room. The investigator reported the child showed signs of bruising on several parts of her body, with her arms and both eyes twitching, and a CT scan showed bleeding on the baby’s brain.
The baby was transported by ambulance to Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center in Memphis for treatment.
Published in The Messenger  5.26.10