A southeast Iowa woman convicted of child endangerment causing the death of her daughter has been sentenced to up to 50 years in prison.
The 17-month-old girl was just 11 pounds when she died in November of 2016. An autopsy concluded the baby was malnourished. Twenty-nine-year-old Ambrashia Chrzan of Riverside was given a chance to speak in court today.
“I’m not the evil person that the media has made me out to be,” she said.
Chrzan said she would never intentionally hurt any of her children. Chrzan testified during the trial that her daughter Avery was thin, but active and just wouldn’t gain weight.
Baby Avery was weighed four pounds when she was born prematurely. The baby went first to a foster home, where she gained 10 pounds, but state officials removed the child from the foster home and returned Avery to her parents when she was six months old. The baby did not gain weight, but lost three pounds during the last 11 months of her short life.
The baby’s father, Anthony McCoy, pleaded guilty in June to child endangerment and involuntary manslaughter. He’s to be sentenced in early August.