Tripletts set for sentence hearings

A couple who pleaded no contest to charges related to the death of their infant have both been scheduled for sentencing hearings.

It’s been more than two years since the death of the infant, but now Jacob Anthony Triplett, 28, and Amanda Dawn Triplett, 26, both of Rock Springs, are scheduled to appear in the Third District Court of Judge Nena James for a sentencing hearing.

Jacob’s two-day sentencing hearing is scheduled to take place Oct. 24 and 25, while Amanda’s is set for Nov. 21 from 9 a.m. until noon.

Jacob previously pleaded no contest to second-degree murder, three counts of aggravated child abuse and two counts of child abuse; Amanda previously pleaded no contest to second-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and two counts of child abuse.

In exchange for Amanda’s and Jacob’s no contest pleas, the first-degree murder charges were reduced to a second-degree murder charges.

All of these charges stem from the incident that happened on Sept. 15, 2014.

According to court documents, on that day, Rock Springs Police officers responded to the Tripletts’ home in Rock Springs to assist with a medical call involving an infant that had stopped breathing. The girl was taken to Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County and was found to be malnourished and dehydrated. The infant was then taken into protective custody by the Wyoming Department of Family Services and was transported to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City., where she, identified as S, was found to be brain dead and was taken off of life support and died.

On Sept. 16, 2014, detectives from the Green River Police Department conducted a welfare check on the Tripletts’ three other children. The children were a four-year-old boy, identified as N.L., a two-year-old boy, identified as L.T. and a four-month-old girl, identified as K.T.  

K.T. is the deceased girl’s twin and they were both born seven weeks premature.

Upon examining K.T., detectives found the child was malnourished and immediately had the infant transported to MHSC. K.T. was later transported to Primary Children’s Hospital, and the three children were taken into protective custody.

RSPD officers interviewed the Tripletts; and Amanda said she woke up from a nap at about 1 p.m. Sept. 15, 2014, and noticed S was breathing abnormally. She tried to wake S up, but the infant was unresponsive. She notified Jacob, who started giving the child rescue breaths, but neither called 911 for 15 minutes.

Amanda told the investigators she had not sought medical attention or follow-up appointments with doctors after giving birth to K.T. and S., against doctors’ recommendations.

Amanda discontinued using the brand of baby formula and feeding instructions recommended by her doctor and started using a less expensive formula.

To feed the infants, Amanda used a propping method of keeping the bottles in the babies’ mouths and she did not supervise the infants’ feeding; and often left them to care for the other two children.

Amanda gave the babies a diluted formula mixture. She also said Jacob didn’t feed the babies because he didn’t know his own strength and was afraid of hurting them.

A medical report authored by Dr. Raquel Vargas-While Sept. 16, 2014, concluded S had healing rib fractures on the right sixth, seventh and eighth ribs. During a follow up interview with Dr. Vargas-While on Sept. 17, 2014, the doctor stated it was her opinion that severe malnourishment and dehydration resulted in the child suffering from cardiac arrest.

Dr. Vargas-Whale also said that while examining K.T., two broken posterior ribs were discovered, one on each side of her body. K.T.’s bone lab tests were normal. Dr. Vargas-Whale also said she believed fractures suffered by S and K.T. indicated abusive handling, saying the fractures K.T. had were indicative of a “squeezing mechanism,” as if they were picked up by their ribs and squeezed.

Dr. Vargas-Whale also told investigators that the propping method Amanda used, in conjunction with her switching the formula without informing a doctor lead to the severe dehydration and malnourishment the twins suffered from.

An autopsy performed on S revealed the girl had minor markings on her body that indicated abuse. It also revealed S’s rib injuries were healing and were estimated to have been between two-to-six weeks old. Medical examiners also found evidence indicating S had suffered from severe dehydration and malnutrition. Doctors also noted S’s low temperature at the time emergency medical personnel arrived at the Triplett home indicated S would have died significantly before the time Amanda found S.