Farah guilty in ‘home alone’ case

She admits to four counts of first-degree wanton endangerment

A Bowling Green woman accused of leaving 19 children unattended for several days in a Warren County home last summer entered a guilty plea.

Jackie Farah, 32, pleaded guilty Monday in Warren Circuit Court to four counts of first-degree wanton endangerment, according to Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Chris Cohron.

Farah reached an agreement with prosecutors that dismissed 14 counts of first-degree criminal abuse and an additional count of first-degree wanton endangerment.

Cohron said a probated sentence of eight years was recommended for Farah under the condition she comply with terms set for her by Warren County Family Court.

Authorities say Farah left 19 children alone at a residence at 130 Kingston Way.

The children – who were between the ages of 7 months and 16 years, according to the indictment against Farah – were removed from the house and placed in protective custody.

The children were placed in residential settings within a 100-mile radius of Bowling Green through the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, according to testimony from a witness at an earlier bond hearing in the case.

Cohron said Monday that the children remain in the custody of the state and that the family court will determine any issues regarding whether Farah will be allowed to visit or gain custody of any of the children.

At the bond hearing in December, a witness testified that Farah and Irving Smith were the biological parents of three of the children in the house. Farah is the mother of three other children with another man, and Smith is believed to have fathered the other children with different women.

Farah was placed in the custody of the Kentucky Correctional Institute for Women and was pregnant with another child that was due earlier this month.

Her attorney, Brad Coffman of Bowling Green, said at a hearing last month that he anticipated doctors would induce labor on Farah before she returned to court Monday.

A Warren County grand jury indicted Smith on 14 counts of first-degree criminal abuse and five counts of first-degree wanton endangerment, but he remains at large.

Farah was arrested July 3 by the Warren County Sheriff’s Office after being instructed to come back from Chicago and talk with investigators.

Deputies had been called to the house to check on the children’s well-being and found them alone in the residence with no food or air conditioning while Farah was out of town.

Investigators have said that there were several animals in the house, and a downstairs bathroom contained dog and cat feces about an inch thick.

One child pulled a television down on himself while the adults were away, but he was not injured, according to authorities.

Labels: Public safety