Latrisha Greene, Charlie Garay, and Dequan Greene (Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office: Rotterdam Police Department)
A 27-year-old former foster mother in New York may spend more than two decades in prison for lying under oath about the abuse her husband inflicted upon the children in their care, ultimately ending with him beating their 4-year-old son to death.
Visiting Schenectady County Court Judge Chad Brown on Friday ordered Latrisha Greene to serve the maximum sentence of 9 1/3 to 28 years in prison for intentionally misleading authorities investigating the brutal 2020 death of young Charlie Garay.
Greene’s husband, former ordained minister Dequan Greene, was convicted by a jury in December 2022 on one count of second-degree murder in Charlie’s slaying. He was sentenced to a maximum of 25 years to life in prison.
Before the sentencing, a jury found Greene guilty of four felony counts of perjury and two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child over testimony provided to authorities in August 2022, The Daily Gazette reported.
Breaking down the total sentence, Judge Brown sentenced Greene to 2 1/3 to 7 years for each of the four counts of perjury, with the sentences to run consecutively. In addition, she will be required to pay a fine of more than $6,000, which the state reportedly paid Greene and her husband to act as foster parents to Charlie and his 5-year-old brother. She also cannot contact the couple’s other three foster children for 36 years after her release from detention.
Greene falsely testified on Aug. 31, 2022, in Schenectady County Family Court that she never sent her husband a text message about their foster kids stating, “no more bruises, we need them to heal,” Albany, New York CBS affiliate WRGB reported. The remaining three perjury charges reportedly stemmed from her lying about messages referencing Dequan Greene slapping their 1-year-old daughter in the face, lying about knowing her husband had beaten their 5-year-old foster child, and lying about beating their 4-year-old foster child.
According to the Gazette, Judge Brown lambasted Greene during Friday’s sentencing hearing, particularly highlighting her refusal to accept responsibility for her actions and showing no remorse for her role in Charlie’s tragic death.
“You [Latrisha Greene] said that the trial did not involve the case workers testifying,” Brown reportedly said. “I’m pretty sure I remember multiple caseworkers testified in this trial. You said, ‘this is not your fault.’ Well, by the jury’s verdict, they would disagree with you. And then you said, ‘I am the only one who lost anything,’ I think [Charlie’s brother] might disagree.”
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According to a December 2022 press release from the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office, officers with the Rotterdam Police Department, paramedics from the Mohawk Ambulance Service, and personnel from the Rotterdam Fire Department responded to a 911 call at a home in the 2700 block of Broadway regarding a report about a 4-year-old in respiratory distress.
Once there, first responders found Charlie unresponsive and not breathing before transporting him to Ellis Hospital, where he died.
Greene told first responders that Charlie had “fallen out of a child’s chair” then “began to slur his speech and then passed out,” the release stated. He allegedly told other investigators that the boy had choked. In either case, instead of calling 911, prosecutors said he called his wife, who was out shopping. She came home and phoned authorities for assistance.
An autopsy determined that Charlie’s manner of death was a homicide, and the cause was “extensive internal injury to his liver and intestines caused by blunt force trauma.”
Charlie and his brother had only been in Greene’s care for about three months at the time of his death.
Before Charlie and his brother, the Greenes had “only once before fostered one child for one day,” the DA’s office wrote. Charlie’s brother also suffered a spate of physical injuries, including “bruises, abrasions, and a torn frenulum,” resulting in him being removed from Greenes’ custody.
During his trial, prosecutors reportedly argued that Dequan Greene knowingly and repeatedly physically abused Charlie and his brother, resulting in him receiving the maximum sentence.
Just before ordering Greene to prison, Judge Sypniewski delivered a searing parting shot: “You’re going to go there, and everyone is going to know — ‘Baby Killer.’ Good luck with that.”
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