The father and stepmother who were charged with child torture last December both pleaded no contest to lesser charges Tuesday, Oct. 6, in Seventh District Court.

The plea agreements mean Jeremiah and Jennifer Perkins no longer face the mandatory minimum 10-year prison term attached to the original child torture charges, but the child they reportedly tortured over a period of time won’t have to go through the ordeal of testifying at their trial.

Jeremiah Perkins at his hearing pleaded no contest to attempted child torture, a second degree felony, and could receive up to 15 years in prison or receive probation at his sentencing on Nov. 17.

Jennifer Perkins pleaded no contest to aggravated child abuse and faces the same possible sentence as her husband. The state dropped the first-degree felony counts against the Perkins.

Both agreed to have no contact with the boy until he turns 18 when he will be free to decide whether he wants to see them.

A no contest plea is entered when a defendant doesn’t want to plead guilty but concedes he or she might be found guilty if the case goes to trial. There is no difference between the two pleas when it comes to sentencing.

Adult Probation & Parole will conduct presentence investigations into the backgrounds of both defendants prior to the sentencing hearing.

The Perkins and a third defendant, Johathan Jarman, Jennifer Perkins’ brother, were arrested Dec. 30 at the home where they lived in the area of 400 North and 500 West. Jarman pleaded weeks ago and, unlike the Perkins, was released from the Grand County Jail months ago. He played a lesser role in the treatment of the child. Like the Perkins, he will be sentenced Nov. 17.

According to court documents, the boy, a student at Helen M. Knight Elementary, was systematically abused. He was fed a diet of only rice and vegetables, for example, and had lost 13% of his body weight — about 11 pounds — over a five-month period.

That diet took a toll. His body in court papers was described as “very frail” when Moab Police and Utah Division of Child and Family Services saw him last Oct. 29, the day he was removed from the Perkins’ custody.

Indeed, the boy would resort to eating Tums, Dayquil and toothpastes when hungry, according to court documents.

A Moab Police detective wrote the boy was “skeletal like, with his skin sunken into his person.”

According to court documents, he was assessed with severe malnutrition by nurses at the Children’s Justice Center, who also determined he had “refeeding syndrome,” which occurs when a severely malnourished person begins to eat a nutritious diet.

His father locked him in a dog kennel on at least four times and he was sometimes constrained with zip ties. Court documents also state he was hog-tied and placed on a cold vent in his father’s bedroom. Handcuffs were used to bind his hands and feet and a rope was then tied to both sets of handcuffs.

A ball gag was placed in his mouth after he reportedly attempted to bite Jennifer Perkins. He was also forced to take cold showers.

Grand County Attorney Stephen Stocks told Seventh District Court Judge Don Torgerson that one reason the plea was offered to the Perkins was to spare the boy from having to testify and be “retraumatized and revictimized.”

The boy has been living with a foster family for nearly a year and, according to reports, is thriving.

This story was first published by The Times-Independent.