A Tennessee couple pleaded guilty this week to aggravated child abuse and neglect, a year and a half after one of their four adopted daughters collapsed and was subsequently discovered to be severely malnourished.
Another adopted daughter, the biological sibling of the first, was found in the same condition after Jason and Jessica Klimp called 911 when the 12-year-old girl collapsed, WBIR reported.
The Klimps were sentenced to 10 years in prison without parole and ordered to have no contact permanently with the two children.
It’s not clear if that order applies to two other adopted children. The Klimps also had four biological children, and it’s not clear where any of those children are now, although at the time of the Klimps arrest, a referral was sent to the state Department of Children’s Services, WVLT reported.
An arrest warrant says that the 12-year-old girl “couldn’t remember much about the incident that sent her to the hospital except she collapsed for some reason.”
“[She] was asked about what she eat while at home and she stated she eat from a bottle because she and her sister eat too much and would get sick, when asked to explain she couldn’t,” the warrant said.
Jason Klimp told investigators that he pureed their food because the two malnourished girls couldn’t eat solid food because of “trauma” they’d been through before they were adopted nine years ago.
The children also told investigators that the victim and her sister slept in plastic totes in the basement as punishment for wetting the bed. The children further said the girls weren’t allowed blankets in the basement, which was normally around 60 degrees.
Responding deputies thought the girl who had collapsed was 6 to 8 years old when they responded to the 911 call, WBIR said. The child’s true age was discovered after she was taken to East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville.
A paramedic who responded to the scene said that the girl’s body temperature was 95.6 degrees and that her skin was so discolored that the called for a helicopter to take her to Knoxville.
The Klimps have been behind bars in Tennessee since February 2024, when they were arrested, and that will count as time served on their sentences. They will be allowed to serve the remainder in the home state of Michigan.
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[Featured image: Jason and Jessica Klimp/Fentress County Sheriff’s Office]
