FAIRFIELD, Calif. – A 34-year-old Fairfield woman, linked to a 2018 child abuse case, is likely to serve four months of supervised release after spending nearly five years in “custody.” She had earlier pleaded no contest to 10 charges of child cruelty, her defense attorney told The Reporter on Thursday.
Ina Aurelia Rogers, represented by Fairfield criminal defense attorney Barry K. Newman, was previously scheduled for a presentencing report and sentencing on Thursday. However, Solano County Superior Court Judge William J. Pendergast ordered her to return for formal sentencing on Jan. 29.
Rogers pleaded no contest to nine felony counts and one misdemeanor count of willful cruelty to a child on Dec. 16, 2019. She has been scheduled for sentencing multiple times over the years and had been released on her own recognizance some years ago.
Rogers had faced up to six years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000 for a single felony charge alone. She and her husband, Jonathan Allen, made national headlines when they were arrested in connection with their 12-year-old son’s disappearance in 2018.
The crimes surfaced when police found their son, who had the mental capacity of an 8-year-old, which led to the discovery of squalid, unsafe, and unsanitary living conditions for their nine other children. Allen pleaded no contest to 14 felony counts in the case and was sentenced to 36 years 8 months and parole supervision for 10 years.
The charges against Allen included multiple counts of child torture, child cruelty with possible injury, and lewd acts on a child, dating back to 2014. During a preliminary hearing in December 2018, horrific allegations of torture, based on investigators’ findings, were heard in public for the first time.
Rogers is now set to serve four months of supervised release after pleading no contest to the charges. She had been in and out of custody for nearly five years and will return for formal sentencing later this month. The case brought to light the shocking abuse and neglect experienced by the couple’s children, leading to legal proceedings that have continued to unfold.