Dad sentenced for leaving 4-year-old daughter in freezing car (Great Falls, Montana)

Dad JERAMY SHEELER obviously had his priorities in order when he decided to leave his 4-year-old daughter alone in the car in 14 below zero weather while he visited a "teenage girl" (i.e. underage girlfriend?). Fortunately, the child woke up before she froze to death and went looking for help. A neighbor reports that her skin was nearly purple from the cold. Drugs may have been involved in Dad's decision-making (or lack thereof)--that and being a self-centered idiot.

So let's ask the usual questions. Where's Mom? Was Dad babysitting? Did he have custody or visitation? How did he gain access to this child, only to neglect and ignore her and nearly kill her?

Hat tip to Shan for finding this article.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20090821/NEWS01/908210310/1002/NLETTER01/Man-sentenced-for-leaving-child-in-freezing-car?source=nletter-news

Man sentenced for leaving child in freezing car
By Tribune Staff • August 21, 2009

A Vaughn man was sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday for leaving his 4-year-old daughter alone in a car while he visited a teenage girl on a frigid night last December.

None of the sentence time was suspended for 22-year-old Jeramey Sheeler. But he was given a recommendation to first participate in a rigorous boot camp training program that could result in an earlier parole date, said Cascade County Attorney John Parker.

The sentence was in accordance with a plea agreement reached between Sheeler and Cascade County prosecutors in May.

On Dec. 20, a resident of the 3700 block of 2nd Avenue South in Great Falls told police he heard knocking on his door and found a shivering girl whose skin was nearly purple. It was 14 degrees below zero at the time.

The girl told the man that she had been sleeping in a car, and didn't know where her father was, according to court documents.

Police found Sheeler at a house next door, where they believe he was visiting a teenage girl. Sheeler has previously said he left the girl in the car, went inside the house and that "time got away from me."

Sheeler said the girl was in the car for about an hour, while prosecutors said witness accounts suggested she was left in the vehicle for closer to two hours.

"The level of gross neglect was shocking," Parker said.

Prosecutors dismissed a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia against Sheeler in exchange for the guilty plea.