Ohio Parents Sentenced to Prison

A New Lexington mother and father will spend the next several years in prison.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced today that both 23-year-old Mariah Keister and 33-year-old Matthew Skeens plead guilty to felony charges of felonious assault and endangering children. The two will serve a seven year sentence.

The New Lexington Police Department investigated the parents after the couple’s son, who was less than three months old at the time, was brought to the hospital with multiple fractures. Attorney General DeWine said the parents injured their child and the injuries worsened because the parents failed to bring the child in for immediate treatment. The cases were prosecuted by attorneys with DeWine’s Special Prosecutions Section. The child is now in the custody of a family member.