Children's Author Sentenced to Prison After Deplorable State of Her Children Revealed Their Horrific Life at Home
A children’s book author is getting an unhappy ending — in the Florida Department of Corrections.
Jennifer Wolfthal will serve 12 years in prison after a plea agreement this week in a case involving the abuse of her three adopted children, Fox News reported Friday.
Her husband, Joseph Wolfthal, will serve 10 years, according to Fox.
The Wolfthals were arrested in January 2021 after Joseph brought their 8-year-old to an emergency room.
WFTV in Orlando reported at the time that an arrest report indicated the girl “was suffering from sepsis, a staph infection, renal and liver failure and pneumonia in both lungs.”
The girl was also malnourished and had bruises, open wounds, and skin infections, the station reported.
The couple had two other children at the time, ages 9 and 11, according to Fox.
All the children had been adopted in 2014, WFTV reported.
All showed signs of savage treatment at the hands of their parents, particularly their mother.
According to an Orlando Sentinel report from January 2021, details in an arrest report show the treatment included physical abuse that can only be described as torture.
“One child, a girl, told investigators the couple ‘would take turns disciplining them,’ the report said, explaining both would ‘spank her in the same spot to the point of drawing blood,’ describing the object used to hit her as a ‘whacker,'” according to the outlet.
“The children said they were punished almost every night, with cold water poured over them in bed, ‘left to sleep in that condition overnight,’ the report said. Their bedding, detectives found, ‘consisted only of a plastic mattress cover and pillow.'”
Monday’s plea deal was reached on what would have been the first day of the couple’s trial in Florida’s Seminole County court, WESH-TV in Daytona Beach reported.
Instead, they pleaded guilty to numerous counts of “aggravated child abuse and neglect of a child with great bodily harm,” WESH reported.
Jennifer Wolfthal is the co-author of the children’s book “A Real Friend,” published in 2020. A review described the book as “a feel-good read about a friendship that feels real, indeed.”
The children victimized in the case are with a new family, according to Fox.
“This plea and sentencing agreement ensures that the Wolfthals will spend significant time in prison while it protects the already-traumatized victims from the stress of having to testify,” a representative of the state attorney’s office in Florida’s 18th judicial circuit remarked in a statement, according to Fox.
“The State Attorney’s office made sure law enforcement and the children’s new guardian supported this sentence before it agreed to it.”
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
