Mother sentenced for neglecting to care for dependent daughter

Dec. 12—WILKES-BARRE — A city woman will spend four months in prison followed by house arrest for neglecting to provide care and services to her non-verbal daughter who suffers from spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy.

Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas sentenced Jeanette Blauer, 59, of Hortense Street, to two years in the county's Intermediate Punishment Program with the first four months in prison at the county correctional facility. When released from confinement, Blauer must spend eight months on house arrest with electronic monitoring.

Blauer was sentenced Tuesday on a single count of endangering the welfare of a care-dependent person. She entered a no contest plea to the charge Sept. 11.

Prosecutors withdrew charges of neglect of care and theft against Blauer.

Wilkes-Barre police detectives charged Blauer in September 2022, after her daughter was taken into protective custody when she attended a day program at Keystone Adult Day Care on May 10, 2022, according to court records.

An investigator for adult protective services contacted city police when staff at the day care became alarmed at the dependent woman's condition.

According to court records, the dependent woman had severe sores on her body, break down of skin on her buttocks and a bald spot on the back of here head that were attributed to her body not being re-positioned every two hours due to being quadriplegic. The woman also suffered from a urinary tract infection and her hair was severely knotted and matted, court records say.

When staff at Allied Services bathed the woman, the water quickly turned discolored with dirt particles circling the drain.

Physicians estimated the woman had not been bathed in months.

The woman's body was covered with filth and her wheelchair had a strong odor of cigarette smoke and urine. The wheelchair had to be cleaned at a car wash and disinfected, court records say.

Court records say the woman, after being taken into protective custody, weighed 73 pounds and was malnourished.

Blauer lost guardianship of her daughter, who is in the care of Family Service Association of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Blauer was barred from future guardianship and contact with her daughter, unless contact is permitted through Orphans Court.