Julia Hostetter, 21, was sentenced in Rockbridge County Circuit Court on felony charges of child endangerment and possession of a schedule I or II drug in connection with the death of her infant son, Holton Allen Scott Hostetter, in November 2023.
An autopsy determined that the cause of death was accidental suffocation.
Her guilty plea to those charges was part of an agreement with the commonwealth’s attorney’s office, and she received suspended sentences of four years for child endangerment and two years for the drug charge. She will have five years of probation, including intensive probation for the first year, for the child endangerment charge and two years of probation for the drug possession charge.
During the sentencing hearing, Hostetter testified that losing her son had been hard for her and that she is “committed to getting better” and entering the Rockbridge Recovery program to address her drug addiction, and affirmed that she has “no desire” to use drugs again.
Her mother, Michelle Thacker of Madison County, and her father, Allen Hostetter of Lexington, both testified on her behalf and further affirmed her commitment to addressing her addiction after she’s released from Rockbridge Regional Jail, where she has been since Jan. 8, following a violation of probation for a separate, unrelated drug possession charge.
“She’s very committed to getting out and getting clean and going to Rockbridge Recovery,” Thacker said.
Allen Hostetter testified that Julia will be able to live with him after she is released and that he will make sure that she keeps up with her treatment and probation. On cross-examination, he said that at the time of Holton’s death she and her boyfriend, Cameron Carper had been living with him.
Cameron Carper, 32, of Bedford was sentenced in Rockbridge County Circuit Court on two felony charges – one count of child endangerment and one count of possession of a schedule I or II drug – in connection with the death of an infant in 2023. He was sentenced to 10 years for the drug possession charge, of which all but six months was suspended, and five years for the child endangerment charge, with all but one year and three months suspended as part of a plea agreement with the Rockbridge County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office. The sentences will be served consecutively and he was sentenced to five years of probation upon his release.
During the sentencing hearing on June 4, Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Andrew Squires noted that Carper was the last person to see Hostetter alive when he left in the night to use drugs with a friend and that he returned to find the child dead. Squires also noted that Carper has a history of similar charges of drug possession and exposing children to drugs. Prior to announcing the sentence, Judge Christopher Russell commented that Carper’s prior history has been “significant and, in this case, led to a tragic outcome.”
Holton Allen Scott Hostetter
