Ex-Morris County Army couple convicted of child abuse released from jail in new sentencing
NICHOLAS KATZBAN | NorthJersey.com
An Army veteran and his wife will return home after receiving new sentences for the second time since their 2015 conviction on multiple counts of child abuse.
Carolyn Jackson, 44, was given a sentence of time served, and her husband, John Jackson, 46, who served as an Army major at the Picatinny Arsenal installation in Wharton, was resentenced to home confinement for a year and a half, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, which announced the new terms on Wednesday.
The couple were arrested in 2013, after one of their biological children reported the parents' ongoing abuse of multiple adopted children under their care, according to the Associated Press.
Federal prosecutors accused the couple of beating the children, fracturing multiple bones, depriving them of water while dehydrating them with salty foods, forcing them to drink hot sauce and starving them.
In one example, the Jacksons punished one of the children after catching the child sneaking food and drinking from the toilet, attorneys said.
The child who reported the parents allegedly received 30 lashes with a belt as reprisal.
Authorities said the couple did this in an attempt to "train" the adopted children, who were all under the age of 4 and developmentally delayed, how to behave.
In 2015, they were convicted of endangering the welfare of a child and conspiracy, and John Jackson was discharged from the Army.
Carolyn Jackson was sentenced to two years in prison, while John was given probation and ordered to fulfill 400 hours of community service.
But two years later, an appellate court ruled that errors had been made in their sentencing procedure, and ordered both to serve three years and four months in prison, with Carolyn receiving credit for time served.
Federal attorneys then appealed a second time, and once again, judges found multiple mistakes in the defendants' sentencing, calling for new penalties.
Nicholas Katzban is a breaking news reporter for NorthJersey.com.
Email: katzban@northjersey.com
Twitter: @nicholaskatzban