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Father of starved girl pleads guilty to 3 assault counts

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March 21st, 2018 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The father of a 16-year-old girl who was tortured and starved to death is pleading guilty to three counts of assault while participating in a felony causing a serious injury. The Des Moines Register reports that 47-year-old Joseph Finn II appeared in court Wednesday to plead to the charges, which each carry up to 10 years in prison. Finn will seek to have the sentences on the three counts served all at once when he’s sentenced on May 4.

Finn’s ex-wife, Nicole Finn, is serving three life sentences for the October 2016 death of Natalie Finn. Officials have said the emaciated girl weighed just 81 pounds when she died.

Joseph Finn did not live in the West Des Moines home where his adopted daughter died, but prosecutors say he boarded up the windows in the house after Nicole complained Natalie and other adopted children were escaping and begging neighbors for food.