Union City Parents Sentenced to State Prison in Child Neglect Case

A Union City mother and father have been sentenced to state prison after pleading guilty to severely neglecting their two young daughters, leaving the children unable to eat solid food and requiring surgically implanted feeding tubes.

Courtney Boardman, 32, and Keith D. Griffith, 49, were each sentenced to three to seven years in state prison on Monday by Erie County Judge David Ridge, according to a Go Erie report. Both pleaded guilty on July 17 to aggravated assault of a victim younger than 13, a first-degree felony involving the neglect of their two daughters.

The children, who were 5 and 4 when authorities began investigating the case, had been fed only liquids since birth. Their reported diet consisted primarily of water, milk, oatmeal, baby food and, at times, yogurt. According to information presented in court, the girls had never developed the ability to eat solid food. Their esophageal muscles were severely underdeveloped, and both were diagnosed with failure to thrive resulting from severe developmental and physical neglect.

The girls underwent abdominal surgery at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, where gastrostomy tubes were implanted to provide liquid nutrition directly to their stomachs.

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Pennsylvania State Police in Corry began investigating the family in June 2023 after receiving a report from the Crawford County Office of Children and Youth concerning two malnourished children. The court dockets show that both defendants originally faced two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of endangering the welfare of children, two counts of simple assault and two counts of recklessly endangering another person. All of the charges were related to conduct beginning in August 2018 and continuing through April 2023.

The District Attorney’s Office said Griffith’s recommended sentence was influenced in part by his guilty plea and the fact that the plea avoided a trial. Both sentences are at the lower end of the state sentencing guidelines. The parents’ attorneys told the court that both had become sober and completed parenting classes and other programs since being charged.

Judge Ridge acknowledged those efforts but determined they did not outweigh the harm suffered by the children.

The children are reportedly in foster care and were described in court as doing well, with plans for them to be adopted.