Guilty plea entered in child endangerment case

A man charged with leaving his 2-year-old daughter home alone with no food or water for nearly a day pleaded guilty Thursday and was sentenced to probation.

On the day his trial for misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child was scheduled to begin, Richard B. Stemmerick pleaded guilty to the charge.

Stemmerick, 37, of 509 Bellevue St., was arrested around 11:30 p.m. April 13 on an out-of-state warrant for a traffic violation. When taken into custody, he failed to tell the arresting trooper that his daughter was home alone.

The daughter remained in her crib unsupervised with no food or water until she was found by a family member around 4:30 p.m. the next day, police spokesman Jason Selzer said at the time.

After the defendant pleaded guilty, Associate Circuit Judge Gary A. Kamp sentenced Stemmerick to two year's probation and ordered him to perform 40 hours of community service. He was also required to undergo alcohol and chemical dependency evaluations.

In a related incident, a woman who heard about Stemmerick's arrest for child endangerment in a local newspaper attacked him with a knife on May 4.

Tiffany N. Wilkins, 25, of 824 Good Hope St., slashed Stemmerick with a butcher knife. Stemmerick received stitches for the injuries.

On June 1, Wilkins pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

kmorrison@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 1277