A couple from Charter Oak remains in custody after allegedly failing to receive medical treatment for seriously injured two-week old infant. According to Crawford County District Court records, 23-year-old Chad Eugene Gibbs Jr allegedly fell down the stairs, striking his infant daughter’s head on a door frame and dropping her approximately three to four feet to the ground on Jan. 10 at around 4:30 p.m. The mother of the child, 22-year-old Sarah Marie Lembke noticed bruising on the child’s face, and observed the infant to be crying regularly for five hours, but both her and Gibbs failed to seek out medical attention until approximately 9:30 p.m. when the child lost her pulse. Gibbs admitted to law enforcement the incident, as well as accidently elbowing his daughter and squeeze her against his chest when she would cry. It was also mentioned in the Crawford County Sheriff’s officer’s affidavit that Gibbs Jr. allegedly has a prior history of injuring Lembke’s other children. Both Gibbs Jr. and Lembke are being held at the Crawford County Jail on a $10,000 bond, each facing a charge of child endangerment causing serious injury, a class C felony. If convicted, the charge carries a maximum penalty of up to ten years in prison and over $13,000 in fines.
