CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Former child care worker enters plea

Dominion Post - 4/5/2017

April 05--A former child care worker pleaded guilty to a felony for breaking a baby's arm.

Stephanie Weis entered her plea before Monongalia County Circuit Court Judge Susan Tucker during a Tuesday hearing. The grand jury indicted Weis in 2016 for felony child abuse resulting in injury.

Weis pleaded guilty to felony child neglect resulting in injury. She faces one to three years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for a later date. The state will not oppose a request for alternative sentencing.

Weis has been incarcerated since January, after she failed to appear for a court hearing.

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Stephen Fitz said in July 2013, Weis worked at Pleasant Day Schools and was taking care of four babies. She got up from a chair and reached into the crib and abruptly moved the victim.

The girl's arm broke as a result of Weis' action.

She initially denied knowledge when the victim's father arrived, although video surveillance showed her checking on the baby after the incident.

Weis eventually confessed to police and said she grabbed the baby and heard the arm pop, Fitz said.

Weis said she wasn't paying attention and turned the baby over, which is when she heard the pop. She said she didn't initially see anything out of place and didn't know what to do because she was scared.

She called her decision a huge mistake.

"I feel terrible about it," Weis said. "It's going to affect my life for the rest of my life."

___

(c)2017 The Dominion Post (Morgantown, W.Va.)

Visit The Dominion Post (Morgantown, W.Va.) at www.dominionpost.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.