Duchesne County mom pleads guilty to pointing loaded gun at son's head

DUCHESNE — A Duchesne County woman accused of holding a loaded gun to her young son's head and threatening to shoot him pleaded guilty Thursday to a reduced charge.

Bambi Lee Richins, of Talmage, entered her plea to child abuse, a third-degree felony. The charge was initially filed in 8th District Court as a second-degree felony.

As part of the plea agreement, charges of aggravated assault and witness tampering were dismissed.

Duchesne County sheriff's detectives interviewed Richins' children in July, after the state Division of Child and Family Services received an anonymous complaint.

Richins' 9-year-old son told a detective his mother became angry with him while he was cleaning the living room, pointed a .22-caliber handgun at his head and said, "I am going to blow your head off," according to charging documents.

"(The boy) indicated Bambi showed him the .22 handgun and told him it was loaded," the charges state. "(He) stated he saw the gun was loaded. Bambi then told (her son) she was going to put the .22 firearm in his mouth and pull the trigger."

Richins' daughter was in the home and saw her mother holding the handgun, but she could not see whether it was pointed at her brother, detectives said.

Richins, 34, told the children "if they said anything, they would be placed in foster care and never see her again," according to the charges.

During Thursday's hearing, defense attorney Herb Gillespie said his client doesn't dispute the state's evidence against her, but also "doesn't have a specific memory" of the incident.

Richins, who is working through DCFS to be reunited with her children, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 13. She faces up to five years in prison.

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