A Chelsea mother was sentenced to four to six years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter and reckless endangerment in the 2024 death of her 3-year-old son, whom she left in the care of her 8- and 7-year-old brothers while she spent the night at her boyfriend's home. Jennifer Prudencio, now 28, received the sentence from Suffolk Superior Court Judge Joshua Wall, along with three years of probation to follow her prison term.
A Sentence Beyond Standard Guidelines
According to the Boston Globe, Prudencio pleaded guilty on September 22, 2026, to manslaughter and three counts of reckless endangerment of a child. Judge Wall's sentence exceeded standard state sentencing guidelines after he agreed with prosecutors that aggravating factors, including the victim's young age and the extreme nature of the neglect, warranted a harsher term, according to Court TV.
Prudencio's son, Yael Guardado Prudencio, died on April 7, 2024. He had hemophilia and a seizure disorder and suffered an untreated head injury from a fall, CBS reported; Court TV reported that he vomited blood. The Globe's account, drawing on the seed story's court record, states that prosecutors said Yael was already ailing in the last week of his life.
The Overnight Text That Prosecutors Say Went Unanswered
Court proceedings revealed that at 1 a.m. on April 7, 2024, Prudencio's 8-year-old son sent her a video showing his 3-year-old brother moaning in distress, the same account reports. Court TV separately reported that Yael was repeatedly vomiting. Prudencio texted back that she would be home soon, according to the Globe, but she remained at her boyfriend's Somerville home for nine more hours despite the message, per the same Court TV account. Prosecutors said she had left Yael in his siblings' care at the family's Chelsea apartment the night before, April 6, 2024, after drinking at a bar in Revere.
When Prudencio returned home around 10 a.m. the next day, Yael was already dead, prosecutors said, according to the Globe's reporting. In the week leading up to his death, Prudencio had taken Yael to doctor visits twice, where she discussed adjusting or adding medications to manage his hemophilia and seizure disorder, the same Court TV account notes.
Defense Cited Trauma History in Bid for Leniency
At the sentencing hearing, defense attorney Peter Marano argued for leniency, describing Prudencio as a “child in an adult body” and revealing she was a survivor of rape and multiple abusive relationships, according to the Court TV report. Defense attorneys cited her traumatic personal history in arguing for leniency, the outlet noted.
Prudencio appeared in court on April 10, 2024, where she initially pleaded not guilty, per the Globe's account. At that hearing, a judge set her bail at $100,000 and mandated GPS tracking if she was released, according to CBS News. Lemire had called the toddler's death a terrible tragedy while pleading for lower bail.
She faced one count of manslaughter and three counts of reckless endangerment of a child and had been scheduled to stand trial in November 2026 before her guilty plea, the Globe reported. She received credit for 284 days of time served and will serve her sentence at MCI-Framingham.
Probation Terms and the Path to Reunification
Once Prudencio completes her prison term, her three-year probation requires her to complete mental health treatment, abstain from alcohol and illegal drugs, and finish parenting classes if she seeks reunification or visitation with her surviving children, CBS News reported. Under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265, Section 13, involuntary manslaughter is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in state prison and imprisonment in a jail for up to two and a half years, according to MassDefense, which notes the charge applies to unintentional killings caused by wanton or reckless conduct.
Prior to the 2024 incident, the family had no recorded history with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, and the two surviving boys now live with their grandmother, with an ultimate goal of family reunification, according to Court TV's reporting.
The case fits into a broader pattern tracked by state child welfare officials. Federal child welfare data for Massachusetts published in 2024 recorded 39,075 screened-in child abuse and neglect reports in 2022, with parents cited as the perpetrators in nearly 80 percent of all child maltreatment cases statewide, according to the Child Welfare League of America.
