Fort Wayne man gets 15 years in infant’s babysitting death

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) – A Fort Wayne man was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to a neglect charge stemming from the death of an infant he was babysitting.

An Allen County judge sentenced 30-year-old Brandon Sprinkle on Friday in the February 2013 death of five-week-old Jaxon Follis. Sprinkle had pleaded guilty to neglect of a dependent causing serious bodily injury in the boy’s death.

The Journal Gazette reports the child’s parents hired Sprinkle to baby-sit their son when the new mother had to return to work.

Sprinkle was alone with the baby when on Feb. 24, 2013, the child stopped breathing.

Court documents state that doctors at a Fort Wayne hospital where the child died found the infant had extensive brain bleeding and a retinal hemorrhage.