A woman who worked as a detention assistant for the Marion County Sheriff’s Office was found guilty of culpable negligence for a 2022 incident in which a four-year-old child found her gun and shot himself in the hand.
Carlene Antonette Jarrett, who turned 27 earlier this month, was found guilty by a jury on Thursday, August 17, of culpable negligence in a case that dates back to January 2022.
The trial took place exactly 17 months after the incident that left a 4-year-old child injured.
During that incident on January 17, 2022, an Ocala Police Department officer responded to a local apartment after the child, whose mother was friends with Jarrett, was transported to Ocala Regional Medical Center for the gunshot wound.
Upon arrival at the apartment, the officer was advised by an OPD sergeant that a Ruger LCP9 handgun had been recovered from the trunk of a vehicle that belonged to Jarrett.
The officer entered the apartment where the incident occurred and observed blood on the floor of the main room.
Jarrett told the officer that a female friend had stopped by to visit the apartment. She confirmed that she owned the Ruger handgun that was found. Jarrett says she took off her sweater, in which the handgun was kept, and placed it on top of a table in her apartment.
While the child was playing, Jarrett stated that she laid down on the couch and fell asleep. She awoke to the sound of a gunshot and observed that the child had shot himself in the hand.
According to Jarrett, the handgun had a bullet in the chamber and the safety was equipped at the time of the incident.
Jarrett drove the child and his mother to ORMC immediately after the incident.
In the aftermath of the incident, the child’s mother told police that he needed to have several fingers surgically reconstructed.
Jarrett previously worked for the Marion County Sheriff’s Office as a detention assistant. At the time of the incident, she told police she was going to take her test the following day to become a correctional officer.
Jarrett and her attorneys were denied motions for acquittal and mistrial.
Jarrett’s charge is classified as a third-degree felony and carries a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison. She is scheduled to be sentenced on September 18, 2023, according to court records.