A Warsaw woman who was high on drugs while her children roamed unattended outside was sentenced to two years in jail Thursday. Krystal Sue Miller, 28, of 340 E. Levi Lee Road, #94, Warsaw, appeared in front of Kosciusko Superior Court I Judge David Cates Thursday and was sentenced to two years in the Kosciusko County Jail for a Level 6 felony neglect of a dependent conviction. The two years were suspended to formal probation, which will require Miller to seek treatment through the Bowen Center. According to the probable cause affidavit, on April 30 Kosciusko County Sheriff deputies responded to a report of two very young children who were outside Miller’s residence on two separate occasions unsupervised, with one child wearing only a diaper and a shirt. Neighbors who had called police also reported that they went inside Miller’s residence and found Miller unresponsive and not moving. When police spoke with Miller, according to court papers, she said she had laid down for a nap on the couch, locked the front door but that the children know how to unlock it. She later admitted she had used methamphetamine, even eating it once to keep her children from getting to it, and that she did not know where her children were or how long the children had been gone. Kosciusko County Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Brad Voelz said in court that the goal of prosecuting Miller is to ensure the safety of her children. “The only time these children have been in danger is when they’re alone with Krystal and when Krystal is unsupervised,”?Voelz said. He also said that if Miller ever wants to be reunited with her family, she’s going to have to clean up her act. Miller’s attorney, Dana Leon, asked Cates for probation for her client and said that taking Miller away from her children isn’t going to fix the problem. That problem, Leon said, is Miller’s addiction to methamphetamine. “I’m really sorry. I know I made a mistake. I’m trying to do better. That’s it,” Miller told Cates. “You did not make a mistake, you made a choice. You say you’re trying to do better. There’s no trying. You have to do better for you and for your children,” Cates said, adding that he took exception with several statements Miller made in her pre-sentence investigation report. “Methamphetamine use does not equate to being a great mom at any level,” he said.
