Sentencing date set for Otterman

GREENCASTLE -- A sentencing date has been set for a Greencastle woman who pled guilty to charges related to her 1-year- and 3-month-old children testing positive for drugs.

Amy Marie Otterman (formerly Reed), 28, entered guilty pleas to three Class D felony counts of neglect of a dependent. She will be sentenced in Putnam County Circuit Court on July 15.

Otterman was arrested in October 2008. Her case had been continued several times and was slated to go to trial June 23 when she entered a change of plea.

Under the terms of a plea agreement, Otterman could be sentenced to the maximum of three years on each charge. Although Judge Matthew Headley has taken the plea agreement under advisement, he is under no obligation to accept it.

"The state has offered the defendant this agreement after further investigation and interviews with witnesses revealed that the defendant did not furnish these substances to her children," the agreement reads. "The substances were in the home and the children accessed them on their own."

Should Headley accept the plea agreement, Otterman would not be able to petition to reduce or modify any sentence once it was imposed.

Otterman was arrested at the culmination of an investigation spearheaded by the Putnam County Department of Child Services. Court documents said her toddler and infant daughters tested positive for methamphetamine, methadone, cocaine and marijuana.

Reed was in jail for several months before being released in January 2009 to pursue independent outpatient drug treatment. Several months later, she was granted permission by the court to transfer into a drug rehabilitation program in Putnam County, which she has since completed.

Otterman has been submitting to random court-ordered drug tests since her release from jail. She has also maintained employment.

Otterman was pregnant when she was arrested, and gave birth to her third child last spring. That child has remained in her care, while the two children involved in the case have been residing with family members.

Otterman was originally charged with two counts of Class C felony contributing to the delinquency of a minor, two counts of Class C felony neglect of a dependent, one count of Class D felony neglect of a dependent and one count of Class B felony interfering with a drug or alcohol screening test.

Otterman's criminal past includes convictions in 2000 for theft of license plates and battery.