December 15, 2015- Commonwealth v Milady Ortiz:  Dauphin County Judge John F. Cherry this morning sentenced Milady Ortiz to incarceration in a state prison for 2 years 4 years followed by a consecutive 5 year term of probation.  On September 15, 2015, Ortiz pleaded guilty to the charges of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children.  The charges were filed after Ortiz's then 9-year old daughter, Sequoia Penn, was rushed to the hospital on October 9, 2012, due to her severe malnourished state of health.  Earlier in the day, a caseworker from Dauphin County Children and Youth visited the home and became concerned for Sequoia's condition and, after consulting with her supervisor, called an ambulance.  

Dr. Kathryn Crowell, a member of Penn State Hershey Medical Center's Child Protection team, testified at today's sentencing hearing that Sequoia's medical condition upon admission to the hospital was very serious.  Sequoia was born with cerebral palsy and was entirely reliant upon her caregivers for even the most basic care.  She was confined to a bed and required her parents to feed her, bathe her, medicate her and provide for her every need.  In addition to being severely malnourished, Sequoia was extremely dehydrated, unkempt and ill groomed indicating a poor quality of care prior to hospitalization.  Along with being dirty, Sequoia was found to have an active lice infestation.

The police investigation in this case determined that Sequoia had another malnutrition incident 2 years prior in 2010 which required her hospitalization after she experience severe weight loss.  Medical and child protective service records show that after Sequoia was released from the Hershey Medical Center, her mother repeatedly missed taking her then 7-year old daughter to numerous follow-up medical appointments.  Even when caseworkers from Children and Youth arranged to provide the family with transportation to medical appointments, Ms. Ortiz failed to get her daughter to the appointments.  During a three month period alone in 2011, Sequoia missed 9 straight medical appointments.  

Chief Deputy District Attorney Seán M. McCormack argued that "the medical and social service records in this case clearly demonstrated a pattern of neglect that went well beyond the case of an overwhelmed mother.  Sequoia's extremely poor hygienic state upon admission to the hospital also spoke volumes towards whether this was an instance of a mother overwhelmed by circumstances or an extraordinary case of extreme neglect.  This was clearly a case of extreme neglect that endangered this child's life."  

Just prior to Ortiz's sentencing hearing, Sequoia's father, Thomas Penn, was sentenced by Judge Cherry to 6 moths to 23 months in the Dauphin County prison for his role in Sequoias' negligent care.  McCormack explained to Judge Cherry that Penn's responsibility for Sequoia's care was "perversely mitigated" by the fact that Penn spent some of the time period in question in jail due to his failure to pay child support to the mother of his children from another relationship.  Also, during the 6 weeks leading up to Sequoia's hospitalization on October 9, 2012, Penn was residing in Pittsburgh for employment purposes.  Although he was not Sequoia's primary caretaker, McCormack explained that Penn still was criminally negligent in ensuring that his daughter was properly cared for and that he could not shirk all his responsibility as it concerned his care-dependent daughter.