Inset: Stacie Gilmore (Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office). Background: Stacie Gilmore appeared in an Ohio courtroom for the child endangerment case involving her son (WFMJ/YouTube).
An Ohio mother claimed she was "not a criminal" as a judge sentenced her to three years of probation for using zip ties, electrical cords and pipes to torture and restrain her child.
Stacie Gilmore's 11-year-old son revealed the abuse to police in 2023 after he was "found wandering alone in Target," according to the Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office.
The Youngstown mother was sentenced Tuesday after being found guilty in October of one count of unlawful restraint, two counts of endangering children, and one count of domestic violence.
Gilmore, 51, was convicted following a three-day jury trial in which she testified and denied the allegations against her. She was found not guilty of felony kidnapping, which would have led to the possibility of a 10-year prison sentence.
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"While [the child] was tied up, she would hit him with these objects and she would abuse him," Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Caitlyn Andrews told the court during the trial's opening statements, according to The Vindicator newspaper.
Gilmore and her lawyer accused her son of lying to get her in trouble because she was overprotective and would not let him go to a regular school or use the internet, among other things. "[The child] didn't want to be there," defense attorney Jim Lanzo alleged during opening statements, according to The Vindicator.
Gilmore claimed her son would randomly leave her home and "started taking the phone with him" while she was asleep or distracted by other activities. She admitted to tying a bed sheet to her leg and the boy — claiming she told him, "I'm going with you," if he tried to leave — but insisted she never used zip ties or abused him.
"I've never restrained [the boy]," Gilmore testified. "Do I take things away from him? Yes."
Gilmore's son accused her during the trial of tying him up in the basement, which she claimed was also not true. She said she forced the boy to sleep on a couch because he had broken three beds from jumping on them, The Vindicator reports.
"I am not a criminal," Gilmore said at her sentencing Tuesday, according to the local NBC affiliate WFMJ. "I am a beacon to this community. I help people that are on drugs."
Gilmore, who has been behind bars, had hoped that the justice system would "be lenient" with her, per WFMJ. She received three years of probation and must receive mental health treatment.
Gilmore was ordered to serve 55 more days in jail to complete a total of eight months, according to WFMJ. She must not contact her son as part of the probation, or she will face three years in prison. The boy was removed from her home by the Mahoning County Children's Services Board.
