WESTFIELD—A Westfield woman arrested and arraigned on charges related to an alleged disposal of a full-term fetus in May had her case continued until January.
Shanna Sharples, 38, of Westfield, had her case continued Friday at Westfield District Court. The new pretrial conference date is now scheduled for Jan. 3, 2018.
Sharples was arrested on Oct. 3 on the charges of improper disposal of a body, three counts of obstruction of justice and one charge of child endangerment stemming from an alleged disposal of a full-term fetus in May. She was arraigned on the charges Oct. 4 at Westfield District Court.
Shanna Sharples, picture provided by Westfield Police Department
Sharples had a $10,000 bail posted on Oct. 11, and has had pretrial conditions with GPS monitoring placed.
According to Hampden County Assistant District Attorney Jane Mulqueen in Westfield District Court during Sharples’s arraignment last month, police reported that Sharples had checked into Baystate Noble Hospital on May 4. According to the statement of facts by police, this was due to a possible miscarriage, which was reported in The Westfield News on Oct. 4.
In the aricle Oct. 4 it was reported that Mulqueen said Sharples reported to the hospital with a placenta and umbilical cord in a plastic bag.
During the arraignment, Mulqueen said that doctors reported that a “full-term or near full-term fetus would have been attached.” Police searched Sharples’s apartment and the Twiss Street Transfer Station as part of an investigation into the matter. The transfer station was closed for several days during the investigation.
No body was reportedly found from the searches, but police did report finding bloody clothing in trash that was reportedly believed to be used to clean a bathroom. Charges were later brought forward.
