5 young kids from Youngstown, OH (2009)

Three mothers accused of possessing drugs and hauling their five
children, including two 4-year-olds, for approximately 10 hours in the
back of an unventilated rental truck were behind bars this week after
being arrested on Tuesday in Bland County.
According to the Virginia State Police, the Youngstown, Ohio, women
were charged after a trooper stopped the box truck at noon near the
Interstate 77 Bland exit. Sgt. M.T. Conroy said police were called
earlier after someone noticed the children getting back inside the
truck at an I-77 southbound rest area.
The children – ages 4, 11, 12 and 13 – were soaked in sweat when the truck was stopped, Conroy said.
“Their excuse was there wasn’t enough room up front for the kids,” he said.
The children and their mothers were apparently using the truck to move their possessions from Ohio to Georgia.
Conroy said that Trooper T.J. Deel noticed a strong odor of marijuana
coming from the air-conditioned cab after stopping the truck and later
found a bag containing what police suspect is marijuana, 43 grams of
cocaine and ecstasy.
The Bland County Department of Social Services was called in to care for the children, Conroy said.
Being held without bond at the New River Valley Regional Jail in
Dublin, the mothers – 31-year-old Mary E. Clark, 31-year-old Tamara
Sharpe and 31-year-old Misty R. Jewell – were arraigned Wednesday in
Bland County General District Court.
Jewell, the driver, was charged with felony child endangerment,
possession with the intent to distribute cocaine, possession with the
intent to distribute marijuana and possession of ecstasy. According to
court records, she has prior arrests that include driving under the
influence and disorderly conduct.
Clark was charged with felony child endangerment and misdemeanor marijuana possession.
Sharpe was charged with felony child endangerment (three counts) and misdemeanor marijuana possession.
Their preliminary hearing has been set for Oct. 20.
Conroy said more charges could be pending against the women as part of the department’s ongoing investigation.

Thursday, December 17, 3:24 PM
Three mothers accused of hauling their children in the back of a rental truck in August are scheduled to enter a plea.

Mary Clark, Misty Jewell, and Tamara Sharpe, all from Ohio, were arrested in Bland County while moving furniture from Ohio to Georgia.

Investigators said the women stopped at the Bland County Welcome Center, and witnesses saw the children getting into the back of the truck before it pulled off.

Police stopped the truck a few miles down the road. The five children, ranging in age from 4 to 13, had been in the back of the truck for at least 10 hours with no windows and no air conditioning, police said.

On Monday, a grand jury found there is enough evidence to move forward. All of the women are set to enter a plea in the case.

http://www2.newsadvance.com/m/news/2009/dec/17/mothers_set_to_enter_plea_for_hauling_children_in_-ar-218139/

By Jeffrey Simmons
Published: May 25, 2010
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By JEFFREY SIMMONS/Staff

Looking for a better life in Georgia, three Ohio mothers loaded their belongings and their children in a moving truck last August and headed south.
A few miles into Virginia, they stopped at a Bland County welcome center. As the children played outside, the mothers smoked marijuana before climbing back into the air-conditioned cab and putting their five children and a dog in the back of the unventilated box truck.
Someone tipped off the police, and a state trooper stopped the vehicle near the Bland exit.
The kids were soaked with sweat when they were discovered, and police found marijuana, ecstasy and more than 40 grams of cocaine in one of the mother’s bags.
That mother – 31-year-old Misty Rachael Jewell of Youngstown – appeared in a Bland County courtroom on Monday to find out her punishment for the drug and child endangerment charges she was convicted of in March.
“I just didn’t want to continue living like that,” said Jewell, who drove the truck, when talking about the guns and violence in Ohio that prompted the women to leave.
During Monday’s sentencing hearing, Jewell and others testified about her positive transformation since her arrest.
Along with landing a job, attending church and taking part in parenting and substance abuse classes, Jewell was able to get her 4-year-old daughter back from foster care on April 30.
“She’s doing what she needs to be doing with us,” said social services worker Sara King.
“I never dreamed she’d get the child back given all the barriers,” testified attorney Rob Campbell who represented Jewell in the child removal case.
Asked if he’d seen a difference in Jewell since he first encountered her at a Wytheville homeless shelter, Pastor Donn Sunshine said she had been “a model person” in his interaction with her.
“I think she wants to turn her life around,” he said.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Clinton Kegley, though, said Jewell’s new direction didn’t negate her crimes.
“Compliance after the fact does not excuse prior actions,” he said and pointed to Jewell’s convictions for obstructing justice, aggressive driving and making a false police report. He said Jewell was using the same child she was accused of neglecting as a “crutch” when it came to her punishment.
Kegley also keyed in on the large amount of cocaine found in Jewell’s bag, even though Jewell denied that the drug belonged to her. Jewell also tested positive for cocaine during a drug screen, the prosecutor said.
“We do want an active sentence,” he said.
Jewell’s attorney, David Saliba, asked the judge for leniency.
“By all accounts, she has done remarkably well,” he said.
After taking a brief recess, Judge Josiah Showalter Jr. sentenced Jewell to serve four years in what he called “a very hard case.”
“(You’re) fortunate nothing more serious happened to those children,” he said. “It’s a sad situation; it really is.”
Earlier in Monday’s hearing, King said that Jewell’s child would likely be placed with a relative or put up for adoption if Jewell went to prison.
After her release, Jewell – who will receive credit for the time she spent in jail before making bond – will be on probation for three years.
The other two mothers with Jewell last August have also been convicted of child endangerment. Mary E. Clark received a three-year suspended sentence on March 22, and Tamara Sharpe will be sentenced on June 14.

http://www.richlands-news-press.com/news/article/mother_gets_prison_time_in_rental_truck_case/7539/