[chris]

Jennifer Kay Sweat received a 14-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and abduction in the case of her mother, Linda Sweat, 77, who was found dead at their Mansfield, Ohio, home. She was not convicted of murder.

Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction records list the convictions in Richland County Common Pleas Court, case 18CR0988, as one count of involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony, and one count of abduction, a third-degree felony. Judge Brent N. Robinson imposed consecutive terms of 11 years and 3 years, with 357 days of jail credit. Reporting and a memorial record describe a guilty plea. The sentence was reported on October 1, 2019. She entered state prison on October 25, 2019, and her expected release date is October 28, 2032.

Linda Sweat lived on Second Avenue in Mansfield with her daughter, Jennifer K. Sweat, 44. Prosecutors said she was in her daughter's care from January 1, 2018, until October 23, 2018. She was described as bedridden.

Mansfield police officers responding to a 9-1-1 call on October 23, 2018, found Linda Sweat dead in an upstairs bedroom. She appeared severely emaciated. One report gave her height as 5 feet 4 inches and her weight as 64 pounds; another reported 44 pounds. Mansfield police Lt. Robert Skropits described a horrific scene for officers and the coroner's staff.

Because of her condition, her body was sent to the Montgomery County, Ohio, coroner's office for an autopsy. The preliminary report indicated issues of neglect. Assistant Prosecutor Brandon Pigg later said the autopsy showed what doctors call global emaciation, meaning severe malnourishment and starvation.

Mansfield police questioned Jennifer Sweat about her mother's care. This recording appears to be her interview with Mansfield police on the day her mother was found. After the autopsy findings came back, police consulted Richland County Prosecutor Gary Bishop and arrested her.

She was initially charged with involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony, and failing to provide for a functionally impaired person, a fourth-degree felony. She was held in the Richland County jail on a $500,000 cash bond. A Richland County grand jury then indicted her on two counts of murder, two counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of failure to provide for an impaired person. The indictment was announced in early December 2018.