A Hancock County judge has sentenced a 20-year-old Greenfield father to three years in prison after his toddler was found alone in the snow last winter, suffering from severe hypothermia and frostbite. The punishment, handed down Tuesday, July 14, 2026, follows a guilty plea earlier this month in a case that began when neighbors discovered the 2-year-old wandering an apartment complex in only a diaper.
Sentence and plea
Logan Nickolas pleaded guilty on July 9 to a Level 5 felony count of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, and Hancock Circuit Court imposed a three-year term, according to Fox59. As part of the plea deal, the state dismissed a Level 6 felony that had also been pending against him, court records show.
How the child was found
Police were called to the Prairie Meadows apartment complex after a resident reported hearing a child crying. Officers arrived to find a 2-year-old standing in the snow in only a diaper, with temperatures hovering near 13 degrees. EMS rushed the child to a hospital for treatment. Responding officers followed tiny footprints in the snow back to an apartment, where they found the father asleep on a couch, and the child was wrapped in a coat until medics arrived, according to WRTV.
Apartment scene and statements
Inside the unit, officers reported smelling burnt marijuana, seeing a handgun on a counter and finding drug paraphernalia, including a plate with a cut straw. They also noted a baby gate at the top of the stairs that was not latched. The child's mother told investigators the father had been using marijuana and cocaine, and Nickolas told police he had "dozed off" on the couch, according to reporting and charging documents. For a summary of the police account and court papers, see Law&Crime.
Legal context
Under Indiana law, a Level 5 felony carries a prison term of one to six years, with an advisory sentence of three years, which is the statutory range that frames the penalty in this case. That sentencing structure gives judges discretion to consider aggravating or mitigating facts when deciding how much of the term to impose, as laid out in state statute. See the relevant provision in the Indiana Code for the Level 5 sentencing range.
What happens next
The Department of Child Services and emergency responders were involved in the original December response, and the child, who suffered frostbite affecting fingers and toes, was stabilized and treated at a hospital, reporting shows. With the plea and sentence entered in Hancock Circuit Court, the pending Level 6 charge was dismissed under the agreement and the criminal case is resolved for now, per Fox59.
