An Ingram woman who violated the terms of her probation just two days after she was sentenced for allowing her former husband to abuse their children will serve 11-1/2 to 23 months in jail.
Trista Price, 38, will be eligible for alternative housing and possible work release.
Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Bruce Beemer found last month that Price violated the terms of her probation after she liked a video her biological daughter posted on TikTok two days after sentencing. A condition of her sentence was having no contact with the victim.
On Monday, Beemer handed down Price’s new sentence. In addition to the incarceration, she must serve seven years of probation.
Price pleaded guilty on March 24 to two counts of endangering the welfare of children. The prosecution said her former husband, Seth Price, sexually and physically abused their children 12 years ago. The children have since been adopted and assumed new last names.
Trista and Seth Price were charged in January 2020, and Seth Price pleaded guilty on March 2 to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, incest, endangering the welfare of children and simple assault.
His plea agreement called for 5 to 10 years in state prison followed by 23 years of probation.
Trista Price cooperated with the prosecution and reached an agreement to serve seven years of probation with the first two years on house arrest. Her sentence was reduced because prosecutors believed she also was victimized by Seth Price.
Two days after being sentenced, probation officers got a report that Price had liked a video her daughter posted on social media.
“She claimed the video randomly came to her page, and she accidentally liked it while scrolling past,” Probation Officer Ken Walls said.
When confronted about the potential harm the contact could cause the victim, Walls said Price showed no remorse.
“Her response was that the victim was never victimized, and that the victim made it up,” Walls told Beemer.
Defense attorney John Munoz said Price does believe her children were victimized, and that she was, too.
“You can do wrong and still be a victim,” he said. “She was under the control of Seth Price for most of their marriage.”
Munoz told Beemer that his client did not mean to like her daughter’s TikTok post.
“All signs point to this being unintentional,” he said. “That doesn’t excuse the conduct but does serve as an explanation.”
Since she was incarcerated on the probation violation in late March, Munoz said, Price has lost her home, her car and her job.
“She’s not welcome to return. She really has nothing left,” he said. “She’s here asking for your mercy, your honor.”
Assistant District Attorney Tom Kelly told the court that Price’s actions caused the victim a “significant impact on her feelings of safety, mental health and her own perception of well-being. “The true impact this entire process has had on her is clear,” Kelly said. Price did not say anything on her own behalf.
In sentencing Price, Beemer said that sending Price to state prison would be disproportionate, given that she did not commit a new crime. However, he also called what she did a serious violation. “The court believes this was an intentional act and had a profound, problematic effect on the victim of the crime,” he said.
