Published: May 09, 2008 11:17 pm            

Moodys receive probation in child abuse case

Hearing for case is Tuesday in Tipton.

TIPTON — The couple accused two years ago of confining their adoptive children in a wire cage at their Greentown horse farm and denying them food will likely receive two years of probation and no jail time.

Howard County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Mark McCann filed a recommended plea bargain this week, which calls for Jay and Teresa Moody to plead guilty to one Class D felony neglect of a child charge.

As part of the plea, the Moodys will be sentenced to two years in jail, which will be suspended except for time served, and placed on unsupervised probation for two years.

Tipton Circuit Court Judge Tom Lett will decide whether to grant the plea at a Tuesday hearing.

McCann declined comment until after sentencing.

Officials brought felony neglect charges against the Moodys in March 2006, when detectives claim the couple were neglecting their 11-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter.

The case, which was to be tried by a jury Tuesday, was moved from Howard County to Tipton at the request of Moodys’ attorney Mike Bolinger due to pretrial publicity in newspapers and on TV, according to court records.

This is the second plea filed in the case. In December 2006, McCann filed a recommended plea in the case, which would have given them probation and no jail time. That plea was denied by Howard Circuit Court Judge Lynn Murray.

The charges accuse the Moodys of keeping the children in a horse stall fitted with wire caging at the couple’s horse farm, Four Seasons Farm, 4282 S. 800 East, according to court records.

A Class D felony conviction carries up to three years in prison. Both were released from jail in March 2006 after posting $500, 10 percent of their $5,000 bail.

        

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