Wednesday 29 September 2010

SBS: Wisconsin trial

Cassandra Colson .
A Black River Falls day care provider accused of child abuse made her initial court appearance on Monday and was released on a $5,000 signature bond.

Judge Todd Ziegler, who appeared via telephone, released Tamara J. Millis, 51, on the bond under the condition she not provide any child care or supervision for children other than her own or her relatives. She also is to have no contact with the alleged victim or the victim’s family.

Chippewa County Assistant District Attorney Wade Newell and Millis’ defense attorney John Hyland agreed on the terms and will schedule a pre-trial conference within the next month.

Millis was charged in Jackson County Circuit Court last month with child abuse for the January incident in which she is accused of injuring a 10-month-old boy.

A hospital report indicates the boy’s injuries are consistent with shaken baby syndrome.

Kellie Murphy contacted authorities Jan. 13 after she found her child unresponsive when she picked him up at Millis’ home on 10th Street and took him to Black River Memorial Hospital. The boy reportedly suffered bleeding in the brain and was airlifted to Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse, according to the Black River Falls Police Department.

Millis told investigators the boy had been sitting on a rug when another child ran into him and landed on top, causing the boy to hit his head on the floor, according to the criminal complaint. However, doctors stated the boy’s injuries were not consistent with him striking his head on the floor.

Murphy stated her child appeared unresponsive and his eyes were rolling when she arrived to pick the boy up at about 2:45 p.m., according to the complaint. She stated Millis told her another child fell on the boy, and he “just wasn’t himself” after waking from a nap and recommended he be taken to a hospital.

Millis was neither a licensed day care provider nor a certified child care provider at the time of the incident, according to the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families and the Jackson County Department of Health and Human Services.

Day care providers must be licensed if they care for four or more children younger than 7 and are compensated. Care providers have then option of being certified by the county if they care for three or fewer unrelated children younger than 7.

The county previously did not divulge whether it knew how many children were cared for at the Millis residence.

Millis faces a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment and a $25,000 fine if convicted of the felony charge.
 
 

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