By Shereen Siewert
A 30-year-old Wausau-area woman previously convicted of child abuse will spend three years on probation for leaving her 2-year-old daughter home alone while drinking heavily and using drugs.
Police say Amanda Osborne, of Weston, had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.257 and marijuana in her system when she was taken by ambulance to a local hospital July 15. Her toddler child was found at home alone, sleeping in a portable crib.
Court documents show Osborne was at a Weston tavern the night of July 15 when she approached a bartender and said she was fearful of the man she was with. The bartender asked the man to leave, who did so without argument. Then Osborne became confused and upset wondering where the man went and began to cry, hyperventilate and vomit, according to court documents. The bartender called 911 and Osborne was transported via ambulance to Marshfield Medical Center in Weston, where she told emergency personnel her daughter was “missing.”
Officers located the girl and turned her over to a family member.
Court records show Osborne was previously convicted of child abuse in 2019 in connection with another child’s skull fracture. In the 2019 case Circuit Judge Greg Strasser ordered Osborne to spend one year in jail followed by three years probation, part of a suspended sentence. She was on probation when she was arrested in July
During a Dec. 20 plea hearing in Marathon County Circuit Court, Judge Mike Moran accepted Osborne’s guilty plea to charges of child abandonment and possession of drug paraphernalia in connection with the July incident. Judge Moran ordered a sentence of eight years in the Wisconsin Prison System, but withheld the sentence for three years of probation, part of a plea agreement that requires Osborne to comply with the Marathon County Drug Court and maintain absolute sobriety, court records show.
Osborne was also ordered to spend 153 days in jail, but was given 153 days credit for time served.
Osborne has a lengthy criminal history with convictions for escape, theft, battery, and an array of domestic abuse-related charges. She was convicted in December 2018 of criminal damage to property and of disorderly conduct as a domestic abuse repeater, court records show. In that case, she was given a withheld sentence and ordered to spend three years on probation.
As a result of the 2019 charges, her 2018 plea deal was nullified; Judge Strasser ordered Osborne to spend one year behind bars and one year on extended supervision in connection with the earlier case.
