Daughter Gets 10 Years For Neglecting Golden Dad, 87

GOLDEN, CO – The daughter of the one of the first early Ph.D. graduates from Colorado School of Mines was sentenced to prison for neglecting her frail 87-year-old father with no food or water for four days while she gambled at a casino. He died two months later.

Isabella Diantha Parker, 48, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by Jefferson County District Court Judge Judge Jeffrey Pilkington on Tuesday. A jury found Parker guilty on July 2, 2017 of theft, criminal exploitation and neglect of an at-risk adult, the First Judicial District Attorney's office said.

The late Ben Parker Jr. was son of the university's former president after whom the Ben Parker Student Center is named.

Police found the 87-year-old Parker in his home Feb. 21, 2017 dressed only in a diaper and a shirt, lying face down on the matt on the floor in his bedroom, covered in his own urine and feces, prosecutors said. He had no food or water and could not sit up, pull himself up, or move across the floor. He could not take his daily medication, which was supposed to be administered by his daughter.

According to police, Isabella Parker lived with her father as caregiver because he could no longer care for himself. Knowing his frail condition, Isabella Parker left her father on a mat on the floor in his bedroom while she and her boyfriend went to Black Hawk for over 36 hours to gamble, prosecutors said. Isabella Parker was also charged and convicted of stealing $13,000 from her father.

Doctors said Ben Parker suffered acute kidney injury, severe dehydration, muscle break-down, and brain confusion as a result of being having been left on the floor, without care, and without food or water, prosecutors testified. Ben Parker died in April 2017, two months after the incident.

This was Isabella Parker’s eighth felony conviction. Her prior seven convictions were drug offenses, the DA's office said.

Image via Jefferson County District Attorney's Office

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