WAUSAU − A 33-year-old Wausau woman was sentenced May 5 to seven years in prison for neglecting a teenage girl who weighed 58 pounds.
Brittany E. Hull, formerly of Rib Mountain, pleaded no contest Feb. 9 to neglect of a child resulting in great bodily harm. No contest means Hull is not admitting guilt but is acknowledging there is enough evidence to convict her. As part of a plea agreement, a charge of child abuse-intentionally causing great bodily harm was dismissed but considered during sentencing.
Marathon County Circuit Judge Gregory Strasser sentenced Hull to the seven years in prison with credit for 915 days already served. Strasser sentenced her to four years extended supervision to follow the person sentence. Strasser ordered Hull to to take a parenting class and undergo any counseling deemed necessary. He also ordered her to not live with any minors without the approval of her parole agent and have no contact with the victim unless requested by the victim and approved by the parole agent. Strasser ordered Hull not to work in a daycare center, school, hospital, nursing home or assisted living center without permission of her agent.
Brittany Hull’s codefendant, Tristan P. Hull, was sentenced Oct. 29 to four years in prison and four years on extended supervision for neglecting a child resulting in great bodily harm. A charge of child abuse-intentionally causing great bodily harm was dismissed but was considered during his sentencing.
According to the criminal complaint, on Oct. 15, 2023, a deputy responded to the Hulls’ Rib Mountain home for a medical emergency. When the deputy arrived, he saw an emergency medical technician performing CPR on a child in an ambulance. The lifesaving measure was performed for 25 minutes.
The deputy talked to Tristan Hull, who said the girl had drunk a protein shake and started having trouble breathing, according to the complaint. He said the girl began to gargle the shake and could not swallow. Tristan Hull said the girl then stiffened up and became unresponsive. Tristan Hull said his wife, Brittany Hull, was the one with the girl during the medical emergency.
Tristan Hull said the girl was 15 years old and had stopped growing about two or three years earlier, according to the complaint. He said the girl was 4 feet tall and weighed about 50 pounds, according to the complaint. Tristan Hull said the girl had a history of health problems, but he only specified a condition that caused poor blood circulation.
The deputy also talked to Brittany Hull, who provided the same information, according to the complaint.
Five days later, on Oct. 20, 2023, a detective was assigned to do a follow-up investigation on the medical emergency. The girl had been taken to Marshfield Medical Center and weighed 58 pounds, according to the complaint. Hospital staff told the detective the girl’s organs had begun to fail because of severe dehydration. She also went into bone marrow failure because of malnutrition. The medical staff ran several test and said they ruled out any medical condition that would have prevented the girl from gaining weight. They also did not find anorexic or other behaviors that indicated self-inflicted harm, according to the complaint.
The lowest normal weight for a child of the girl’s age is about 90 pounds, according to the complaint. The girl was 32 pounds below that weight and about 5 inches below the normal height for a girl her age. A doctor told the detective the conditions can be explained by the girl suffering from severe malnutrition.
In the hospital, the girl said she was happy she could eat what she wanted and was feeling better. She gained 4.85 pounds in eight days and had no problem with any of the food. Brittany Hull had told the detective she had worked with a nutritionist to develop a diet for the girl to help with her brain function because of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, according to the complaint. The detective found Brittany and Tristan Hull were not following the nutritionist’s recommendations and that the girl had appropriate brain function.
The girl told the detective Tristan and Brittany Hull would not allow her to eat breakfast or snacks, according to the complaint. The girl said Brittany Hull was very strict with her and she would get in trouble for trying to eat snacks without permission. The girl, who was homeschooled, said she was placed at a corner table in the living room for most of the day and was not allowed to eat with the other people in the house. The girl had lunch at dinner time and had a meal right before bed. Brittany Hull also limited the girl’s water intake to 16 ounces. If the girl asked for more food, Brittany Hull would tell her to wait until her next meal time.
The detective found a lock on the girl’s bedroom door and all her bedroom windows. There also was a working alarm on the girl’s bedroom door, according to the complaint. There were books taped to the mattress on the girl’s bed that would force her to sleep in a certain position. The girl had no blankets or bedding on the mattress, according to the complaint.
A detective also found videos from a security camera in the girl’s room. The videos showed the girl forced to stand with her hands up for hours, according to the complaint. The girl was shaking and crying in the videos. Both Tristan and Brittany Hull were seen entering the bedroom and forcing the girl to raise her hands higher, even though she was crying and shaking, according to the complaint.
Contact Karen Madden kmadden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMadden715, Instagram @kmadden715 or Facebook at www.facebook.com/karen.madden.33
This article originally appeared on Wausau Daily Herald: Wausau woman sentenced to 7 years in prison for neglecting teen girl
Reporting by Karen Madden, Wausau Daily Herald / Wausau Daily Herald
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