Anthony Waldron “ignored a child to death,” said a prosecutor in Oswego County, New York, and now he must spend 29 years in prison for the boy’s brutal passing, according to CNY Central.
His stepson, Jordan Brooks, 17, lived with cerebral palsy, but despite the teen’s vulnerable condition, Waldron and the victim’s mother, Lisa Waldron, failed to take care of him. Jordan died in May 2021, weighing just 55 pounds after losing half his weight in just eight months, authorities said.
There were warning signs. Teachers complained about Brooks’ deteriorating health as far back as 2018, but Child Protective Services gave the benefit of the doubt to the Waldrons.
According to federal authorities, however, bed sores covered a large area of Brooks’ body, and the autopsy photos revealed metal implants protruding from his skin. He would sit for days in soiled diapers, authorities said.
Brooks previously revealed that he once spent 11 days in his wheelchair without being put to bed, authorities said.
“The sentiment from my regard is … sorrow,” said Oswego County Acting District Attorney Mark Moody, who also served as a coroner in the case, according to CNY Central. “I mean, I know I’ve been doing this for 26 years. I have seen a lot of death scenes. I have seen a lot of different horrific things. I have never seen anything that has affected me like the way Jordan’s death did, the way he died.”
He said Waldron “ignored a child to death.”
Lisa Marie Waldron (L) and Anthony Michael Waldron (R) (Mug shots: Oswego County Sheriff’s Office)
At Anthony Waldron’s New York state trial for second-degree murder and other charges, his attorney, Salvatore Lanza, maintained the defendant did not have a legal obligation under state law to act as a father, according to Syracuse.com. Waldron never adopted Brooks. Also, the defense argued that the legal duty to find medical care for someone else — in loco parentis — only pertains to a spouse, parents, legal guardian, or someone acting as a parent.
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The prosecution reportedly said that the law on “in loco parentis” did not spell out whether there had to at least be a biological or legal relationship.
Oswego County Senior Assistant District Attorney Courtney Venditte said that despite Waldron’s lack of a legal or biological relationship, the defendant acted as a parent to the child, being in his life since Brooks was 7 months old. Brooks knew him as his dad, the prosecutor said.
The court sentenced Waldron on Tuesday. He plans to appeal the case.
As for Lisa Waldron, she is first serving a two-year federal term, having pleaded guilty to cheating the U.S. government by continuing to collect Brooks’ Social Security money after he died.
Prosecutors said she misused those funds even when her son lived, spending money at places such as Victoria’s Secret, a Rent-A-Center, and the popular vacation city of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Lisa Waldron also pleaded guilty in New York state to first-degree assault and second-degree manslaughter regarding her son’s death. She was sentenced to serve 20 years in state prison after her federal prison sentence was completed.
Her attorney, Joseph G. Rodak, who represented her in federal and state court, has argued that she had become overwhelmed when the COVID-19 pandemic shook up her life. Both federal and state prosecutors, however, maintain that she lacked remorse.
“In the months following Jordan’s death, many who knew him mourned, but the defendant [Lisa Waldron] was not one of them,” federal prosecutors said.
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