Sharon Rosebear, Child Neglect, Minnesota 2024

A Red Lake woman has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for her role in the death of a child in her care, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.

Sharon Rosebear, 64, was found guilty of felony child neglect following a six-day trial in U.S. District Court on April 29, 2024. She was sentenced by Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz on [date].

According to evidence presented at trial, Rosebear intentionally deprived a child, Minor A, of necessary food and health care over the course of 2022. The evidence at trial established that Minor A died in 2022 from the combined effects of starvation and infection.

Rosebear's codefendant, Julius Fineday, Sr., pleaded guilty to one count of felony child neglect causing the death of a child and was sentenced to five years in prison earlier this year.

The evidence at trial established that Rosebear acted as one of Minor A's caretakers in 2022. In accordance with Minnesota law, the jury was instructed that Rosebear's lack of formal legal custody of Minor A did not alter her responsibility to the child.

Medical testimony at trial established that the type of infection Minor A had when she died could have entered Minor A's body through scratches in her scalp related to her unaddressed lice. The medical testimony also established that Minor A's prolonged starvation may have been an independently sufficient cause of death, or may have severely compromised Minor A's immune system's ability to fight infection.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI and the Red Lake Tribal Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lindsey E. Middlecamp and Rachel L. Kraker tried the case.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/red-lake-woman-sentenced-prison-child-neglect-following-death-child-red-lake-reservation