Cameron Carper, 32, of Bedford was sentenced in Rockbridge County Circuit Court last week on two felony charges – one count of child endangerment and one count of possession of a schedule I or II drug – in connection with the death of an infant in 2023. He was sentenced to 10 years for the drug possession charge, of which all but six months was suspended, and five years for the child endangerment charge, with all but one year and three months suspended as part of a plea agreement with the Rockbridge County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office. The sentences will be served consecutively and he was sentenced to five years of probation upon his release.
Carper was initially indicted on four felony charges in connection with the death of two-month-old Holton Hostetter on Nov. 24, 2023. In addition to the drug possession and child endangerment charge, he was charged with involuntary manslaughter and child abuse or neglect by a grand jury in May 2024. The autopsy on Hostetter determined the cause of death to be accidental suffocation and the manslaughter and child abuse charges were dropped as part of the plea arrangement. Carper initially pled not guilty to all four felony charges before changing his plea in March.
During the sentencing hearing on June 4, Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Andrew Squires noted that Carper was the last person to see Hostetter alive when he left in the night to use drugs with a friend and that he returned to find the child dead. Squires also noted that Carper has a history of similar charges of drug possession and exposing children to drugs. Prior to announcing the sentence, Judge Christopher Russell commented that Carper’s prior history has been “significant and, in this case, led to a tragic outcome.”
Julia Hostetter, Holton’s mother, was indicted on the same four felonies as Carper in May 2024, and pled guilty in January to child endangerment and possession of a schedule I or II drug as part of a plea agreement in which the child abuse and involuntary manslaughter charges were dropped. She was sentenced in April, receiving a sentence of four years for the child endangerment charge and two years for the drug possession, all of which was suspended.
