Foster mom waives right to preliminary hearing

A foster mother charged with three counts of statutory rape involving a minor in her care waived her right to a preliminary hearing and was bound over to Bedford County Grand Jury on Friday.

Jennifer Renee McWhirter, 33, of Mountain View Road, Bell Buckle, appeared briefly before Judge Charles Rich with her attorney Jeff Seckler, who said that McWhirter was waiving her right to a hearing. She left the courtroom immediately after the appearance.

McWhirter, who held the position of foster care coordinator at the Center for Family Development, was charged in June with three counts of statutory rape by an authority figure and one count of criminal responsibility for facilitation of a felony.

She was placed on administrative leave from the Center pending the outcome of the case and is currently free on $11,000 bond.

Detective Lt. Becky Hord of the Bedford County Sheriff's Department stated in June she had received information that McWhirter, the boy's foster parent, had sexual relations with him.

The alleged relationship between McWhirter and the boy came to light after another foster mother was charged with eight counts of statutory rape by an authority figure earlier this year.

In June, Alea Rhea Rippy pleaded guilty to amended charges -- three counts of statutory rape -- and agreed to serve six months in jail, followed by three years of community corrections. Rippy also had sexual relations with the same minor in McWhirter's care.

Hord said in June that the youth, McWhirter and Rippy "were all three good friends instead of foster care, foster parents." Other evidence was provided to Hord that indicated that "there was more than a foster mother/child relationship," she said.

Interviews of the juvenile indicated that McWhirter allegedly had sex with the boy three times last October and that the boy, Rippy and McWhirter drank alcoholic beverages together, Hord said.

Hord also said that preparations had allegedly been made to hide the boy in Florida because DCS had decided to send him back to Mexico. There was an issue with the Mexican consulate, Hord said, so the boy never went back.