BUCYRUS — After months of negotiations, a Bucyrus woman learned her fate in Crawford County Common Pleas Court on Thursday.
Stephanie Loveless, 34, of Bucyrus pleaded guilty to two charges of endangering children, both third-degree felonies punishable with up to 36 months in prison each and one count of possession of drugs (Vicodin), a fifth-degree felony punishable with up to 12 months in prison.
Loveless, the mother of two girls ages six and ten at the time of the assault admitted to sending her children to Marion to be babysat by David Vreeland, who repeatedly sexually assaulted the two young girls. Vreeland was convicted of unlawful sexual contact with a minor and is now a registered Tier II sex offender.
According to assistant prosecutor Ryan Hoovler, the girls told their mother of the abuse and begged not to go back to Vreeland. Loveless ignored their pleas and sent them anyway.
Hoovler told the court that both the girls were removed from their mother’s custody and are doing well despite all they had to overcome. Hoovler said he got to know the girls during the investigation and said the oldest daughter would have never made it if not for her perseverance.
“She is a very smart and brave little girl,” Hoovler said. “It’s sad to think what she could have accomplished with her life if she had not been assaulted.”
Hoovler called the case sad.
“Miss Loveless had the opportunity to do what every mother should do, protect their children,” Hoovler said. “All she had to do was believe her daughters. These little girls still love their mother and neither of them wanted to see this happen to their mom.”
Hoovler told the court he did appreciate Loveless’ plea of guilty.
“The offer was made in part to spare these girls from testifying in court and further traumatizing them,” Hoovler said.
Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Leuthold said that these cases are the toughest the court has to hear.
“Vreeland was a manipulator that made it nearly impossible to catch the now-convicted sex offender,” Leuthold said. “I got an opportunity to see these girls on tape as part of my competency hearing for them and observed them to be lovely children and very strong girls.”
“It’s clear that they love their Mom so she must have done something right somewhere along the line,” Leuthold continued. “You can be a fun mother, a supportive mother but your number one job is to protect your children. If you fail, there then nothing else matters.”
He told Loveless he feels sad for the pain these little girls went through.
“The odds of you ever getting custody of these girls again is zero,” Leuthold said.
Leuthold sentenced Loveless to 24 months in prison on each count of child endangerment and 11 months in prison on the drug possession charge, for a total of 59 months in prison.
“You are to have absolutely no contact with these girls. They are starting a new life and I won’t have anything impeding that,” Leuthold said.