(Oroville, CA) – In Butte County Court, 38-year-old Helen Warnick of Oroville has been sentenced to 4 years in state prison after pleading no contest to one count of felony child abuse, that resulted in the death of her 2-month-old son.

It was April 18th of last year that Warnick called 911 reporting the baby was unresponsive, telling investigators she had fallen asleep, holding the baby at 9 that morning and when she woke up 5 hours later, the baby was lying face-down, “lifeless” according to the Butte County DA, who tells Action News testing later revealed meth in both the infant’s and Warnick’s systems.

Warnick was previously convicted of child stealing and child abuse in 2018, and for unauthorized use of another person’s credit card in March of this year.