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Amanda Warbitsky, Minot, sentenced to probation on child abuse charge

Amanda Jo Warbitsky, 37, Minot, was sentenced Friday to two years in prison, all suspended but the six days she already has served in the Ward County Jail, and two years of supervised probation on a Class C felony child abuse charge.

Warbitsky had admitted to shaking her 13-year-old son on Nov. 12, 2017, putting him into a headlock, and scratching him with her diamond ring during an argument. The boy told his mentor from Companions for Children about the incident and the mentor reported it to police. Warbitsky told police she had been having difficulties with the boy and had blacked out and gone into a rage. She stopped when she heard her two preschoolers crying. The boy was not seriously hurt by the incident and never lost consciousness or experienced pain, said Warbitsky’s lawyer, Kalli Hoffmann. Hoffmann added that Warbitsky had been trying to get services to help her with the boy before the incident, but she was deemed a low priority by Ward County Social Services.

The Class C felony child abuse charge could have sent Warbitsky to prison for up to five years. The state’s attorney’s office had recommended that she be required to serve six months in the jail.

However, Warbitsky’s attorney, Hoffmann, told Judge Gary Lee that there would be no point in sending Warbitsky to jail. Warbitsky has voluntarily completed parenting classes, anger management and is attending counseling with her significant other and receiving other services. All who have worked with her report that she is doing extremely well. A jail sentence would also have been disruptive for Warbitsky’s two younger children, said Hoffmann. An investigator who conducted a pre-sentence investigation also recommended probation and no prison time for Warbitsky.

The boy, who is now 14, is in the custody of his father out of state and Warbitsky has not seen him since January. Lee had issued a no contact order that also prevented her from speaking with the boy over the phone.

Warbitsky told the judge that she is seeking to work out a joint custody arrangement with the father of her son and wants to rebuild her relationship with the boy. The boy’s father also asked for the no contact order to be lifted. Lee said he would not issue a no contact order as part of the sentence he handed down Friday, since none of the parties had asked for one.

Lee also ordered Warbitsky to pay $1,100 in court costs and to continue with counseling and various classes.

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