CHARLESTON, W.Va.— A St. Alban’s man will spend time in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of child neglect and one count of being in possession of a controlled substance in November 2024.
David Mallo
David Mallo, 27, was sentenced to 2 to 10 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release after his son was taken to CAMC Women and Children’s Hospital with a temperature of 105 and tested positive to methamphetamine his system in June 2024. Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Maryclaire Akers presided over the hearing Wednesday afternoon.
At his plea hearing in November, Mallo claimed he took a nap and when he woke up and found his then 5-month-old son suffering from what he thought at the time to be heat stroke, but it was later determined to be a reaction to ingesting meth. The child has since recovered fully from the incident.
Due to the state the child was in, officers had gone to Mallo’s home to further investigate. When they arrived at the home, they asked Mallo to perform a series of field sobriety tests, which he failed, showing signs of impairment. After a while they then located the suspected meth.
During his sentencing hearing, Mallo continued to take full responsibility for what happened.
“I just like to say I realize that I messed up and I’m really sorry about that,” Mallo said. “I wish that I could look my son in the face to this day and tell him I apologize, I should have never let that happen.”
Akers acknowledged that he had been truthful throughout all of the proceedings, however she had two significant things to put into consideration for his sentence.
“You have said what you did wrong from the start, I don’t think that you’ve ever lied to me once, and I do believe that you are genuinely sorry for what happened,” Akers said. “But that doesn’t change what I have to do here today, I have to take into consideration that you have a prior felony, I have to take into consideration that your child almost died.”
Before Mallo was officially sentence, his attorney, brought up two witnesses to talk on behalf of Mallo. One of those was his mom, Selina Jackson, who politely requested Judge Akers to help him with his addiction, so he could maintain a relationship with his three kids.
“I’m respectively asking that you help my son get the help that he needs to for his substance abuse, not only for the critical of his well-being but also hopefully keeping him involved with his children’s three lives,” Jackson said.
In addition to his sentence and the supervised release, upon his release, he will have to register for the Child Abuse Registry.
Akers says that she gave him the sentence she did, because it’s the consequences of that day in June.
“I’m not sentencing this way because I think you’re evil or bad, I think that this is just the consequence of what happened that day,” she said.
Akers encouraged Mallo to turn his life around after he serves his time.
“And Mr. Mallo, I feel like I need to say to you, something your lawyer said, you told him you are a Mallo and you can’t get a fair shake, or you feel that way, but you’re not required to pay for the sins of people just because you have the same last name, this has nothing to do with that,” Akers said. “And once this is over you certainly have the freedom and ability to make your future whatever you want it to be.”