WELLSBURG — Guilty pleas were entered Tuesday by a Follansbee couple charged with child neglect and a Wellsburg man accused of threatening and holding another man against his will.

Elizabeth and Jordan Deavers, both 32, of Follansbee, each pleaded guilty to child neglect creating substantial risk of injury and were sentenced to two years of supervised probation, followed by 10 years of extended supervision through plea agreements reached between their attorneys and the Brooke County Prosecutor’s Office.

While accepting the plea agreements, 1st Judicial Circuit Court Judge Ronald Wilson advised each they also must pay the costs for their prosecutions and meet various terms of their probations.

The terms include mental evaluations and any treatment recommended through them, registration on the state’s child abuse and neglect registry and prohibited presence at places other than restaurants where alcohol is served and possession of a firearm.

Each had faced one to five years in prison, a fine not less than $1,000 or more than $3,000, or both for the crime.

According to a June 3 indictment against the Deavers, police found their residence “in deplorable conditions and without necessary food, creating a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury” to a child in their care.

In another case, Justin D. Parks, 39, of Wellsburg, pleaded guilty to attempted malicious assault, a felony; and unlawful restraint, a misdemeanor.

Through a plea agreement reached by Sean Logue, Parks’ attorney; and Brooke County Prosecutor Joseph Barki, Parks has been sentenced to one to three years in prison for the felony charge and one year at the Northern Regional Jail for the misdemeanor.

He also must pay the cost of his prosecution within two years of his release.

The agreement allows Parks, after one year of incarceration, to file for his sentence to be modified to three years of supervised probation.

During that time, he must undergo treatment for drug abuse in an inpatient program, the judge noted.

Logue said he and Barki “worked long and hard for a fair agreement” for his client, with the opportunity for drug abuse treatment being a key component.

Barki noted Parks was arrested after the Brooke County Sheriff’s Department was called to investigate a suspected kidnapping of a local man on Aug. 30, 2023.

The prosecuting attorney said sheriff’s deputies called to Parks’ home were met by the victim at the door, who quietly asked for their help.

Barki said the man told them Parks had threatened to harm the man with a baseball bat and a firearm for failing to provide items he sought from the man and used such threats to keep him overnight at his home.

(Scott can be contacted at wscott@heraldstaronline.com.)