Anderson woman found guilty of neglecting 40-pound teen
A Madison Circuit Court jury found an Anderson woman guilty of neglecting a girl who was starved, savagely beaten, forced to eat feces and urine and trapped in a locked room.
Crystal Sells, 23, was found guilty earlier this month of six felonies: three counts of neglect of a dependent and three counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, according to court records.
She was accused of neglecting a 15-year-old girl under the care of Sells' father, Steve, and his wife, Joetta. The teen, who has physical and mental disabilities, was kept in a locked room with little more than a mattress, a space heater, a bucket and a bowl of oatmeal, according to records from the Anderson Police Department. Investigators described a room covered in feces, with blood on the floor.
The teen weighed less than 40 pounds when she was rushed to the hospital in December 2014. Nurses had to keep her breathing.
Anderson police said Steve and Joetta Sells collected $720 per month in government aid while the girl was wasting away. They had custody of the teen since 2009, Madison Circuit Court records show. They also were legal guardians of a 4-year-old, who was removed from the home by the Indiana Department of Child Services.
Steve Sells, the teen's grandfather, pleaded guilty in 2015 to all 17 charges against him: three counts of neglect of a dependent causing serious bodily injury, three counts of neglect of a dependent, three counts of criminal confinement, two counts of battery against a disabled person, one count of battery resulting in bodily injury, two counts of welfare fraud, two counts of theft and one count of perjury, Madison Circuit Court records show.
Madison Circuit Judge Mark Dudley sentenced Sells to 24 years in prison, the maximum sentence under the terms of his plea agreement. The judge also ordered Sells to repay $55,590.35 in government funds he had received to care for his granddaughter.
Joetta Sells pleaded guilty in 2015 to 10 charges, including neglect, criminal confinement and battery resulting in bodily injury. Dudley sentenced her to 24 years in prison, the maximum under the terms of her plea agreement.
In late 2015, the teen's new guardian told the judge that the girl was walking and weighed about 100 pounds. She was attending school and could feed and bathe herself.
Crystal Sells is scheduled to be sentenced at 10 a.m. Monday. She faces up to 20 years in prison, according to the Madison County prosecutor's office.
Dan Kopp, of the Madison County prosecutor's office, declined Thursday to comment on the case. David Shircliff, an attorney for Sells, could not be reached for comment.
Call IndyStar reporter Marisa Kwiatkowski at (317) 444-6135. Follow her on Twitter: @IndyMarisaK.
Read more about the case:
Anderson couple charged after teen's neglect was long ignored
Trust set up for malnourished Anderson teen
Records: Officials knew of Anderson teen's maltreatment since 2010
Anderson couple accused of keeping malnourished girl, 15, in feces-covered room
Anderson grandfather sentenced to 24 years in prison for horrific neglect
'My hope is you're a horribly broken human being,' judge says