MADERA - In his yellow and white striped jail uniform, Wesley Irvine Potter (34) of Madera stood in front of Madera County Superior Court Judge Joseph Soldani Friday morning and learned he would be spending more time in the Madera County Department of Corrections. The step-father of a Madera kindergartener awaits his trial for two felony counts of child endangerment (PC 273a) and one misdemeanor count of domestic violence, his second in four years.

Potter, who is being held in the administrative segregation unit of the jail for his own protection from other inmates, was arrested on Saturday, September 6th for assaulting his girlfriend at their apartment at the 3300 block of Howard Road.  According to the Madera Police Department the assault was recorded on video surveillance from the storage facility where their apartment is located. BVN will not released the name of the girlfriend because of the nature of the domestic violence charges of which she is a victim.

Twenty days later both Potter and his girlfriend were arrested when drug tests performed on the couple's 5-year old child came back positive for Methamphetamine exposure. This was the second positive test on the child in three months.

The child protection services unit of the Madera County Department of Social Services has been investigating the couple for the last eight months after a complaint was reported to the department.

In June the child and parents were tested for exposure to methamphetamine. Despite the fact that both parents also scored high to exposure, the couple blamed a former roommate in the household that moved out in April for smoking the narcotic.

Since methamphetamine only stays in the body for three months, a second hair follicle test was performed in September. That test came back with a higher exposure level to the child as well as both parents. On September 25, the child was removed from the household and placed in protective care with a family member.

The next day Potter and his girlfriend surrendered to authorities at the CPS offices and were booked into the Madera County Jail. The girlfriend bailed out the next day and immediately enrolled in a residential drug rehabilitation treatment facility in Southern California.

Potter was released on the following Monday because the Madera County District Attorney's Office required more investigation from the Madera Police Department before they would bring charges. When Potter was released he immediately left the area and relocated in Lompoc, California in Santa Barbara County.

The Madera Police Department worked over time to get the evidence the district attorney's office required. Two weeks later Madera County Superior Court Judge Ernest LiCalsi issued a $50,000 warrant for the arrest of both parents.

After a scheduled court date, the mother of the child was allowed to return to her drug treatment in Southern California without an increase in her bail of $10,000. Potter, however,  was no longer in the area as he was living at his mother's home in Lompoc, California. Once the Lompoc Police Department learned of the felony warrant, Potter was arrested at the home of Robert and Rebecca Anderson at the 600 block of North Larkspur Drive in Lompoc without incident.

Potter was returned to Madera County Friday evening and re-booked into the Madera County Department of Corrections where he has since been in protective custody. Authorities fear that because of the nature of his crime that other inmates might target the suspect if he is housed with the jail's general population.

Potter and his girlfriend returned to court this morning where Potter requested a reduction in his bail, which Soldani rejected. In court it was disclosed that in 2010 Potter pled guilty to another charge of domestic violence against his girlfriend in which he was also charged with damaging her property and false imprisonment.

Judge Soldani set a pre-trial hearing for next week. BVN has learned that behind closed doors the supervising DA Sally Moreno made an offer to Potter for a sentence on the two felony child endangerment (PC 273a) counts of 90 days in county lock-up and the completion of a drug rehabilitation program. The domestic violence charges were dropped.

However the California Penal Code states that a felony conviction of Penal Code Section 273a(a) can result in probation for a minimum of 4 years, or two, four or six years in State Prison. Ninety days in county lockup hardly seems a fair sentence for criminal acts that could have caused the death of an innocent child.

Moreno told BVN, "You have to earn your way to prison."