Mom gets probation in pump mix-up
GRAND JUNCTION - A 24-year-old single mother walked out of a Mesa County courtroom Monday with the threat of a yearlong prison term no longer hanging over her.
Instead, Melissa Sparkman will serve a year of unsupervised probation after being wrongly accused of stealing a breast pump.
Sparkman’s problems started after her daughter was born 19 months ago at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction. She was loaned a breast pump when she left the hospital. She didn’t return it because she said she forgot about it until a Grand Junction police officer called her five months later and said she faced possible theft charges if the pump wasn’t returned.
It was returned the same day, records show. But days later, Felleter charged Sparkman with felony theft, a charge that wasn’t dismissed until the day of trial.
It didn’t help that Sparkman was on probation for a felony theft committed when she was 19. Records in that case show all restitution was paid. Her probation ended last fall.
But Sparkman hadn’t shown up for a routine court appearance in the breast-pump case, so Felleter charged her with violation of bond conditions, and she was convicted.
However, because the “underlying” felony charge was the theft of the breast pump, state statute called for one year’s imprisonment.