When the school social worker told the children that she would have to speak to their mother, court documents say, the children became “petrified” and said, “If you do, it will make everything worse.”
The original plea agreement in the child abuse case called for Townsend to be sentenced Oct. 28 to 4-8 years in prison, but the state took that deal off the table after Townsend was again accused of child abuse and assault.