PARAGOULD, Ark. (KAIT) - A man, whose children were found “severely malnourished,” will spend the next 24 years in prison while police search for the children’s mom after she skipped court.

On Monday, Sept. 15, Michael A. Harris of Paragould pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree child endangerment.

Second Judicial Circuit Court Judge Pam Honeycutt sentenced Harris to 72 months in the Arkansas Department of Corrections on each charge to run consecutively for a total of 288 months.

She also sentenced him to 120 months of suspended imposition of sentence in exchange for his guilty plea to one count of second-degree domestic battery.

Honeycutt also issued an arrest warrant for the children’s mother, 30-year-old Beatrice Russ, who failed to appear in court Sept. 15 on the same charg

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