A former daycare worker will spend three months in jail for failing to report child abuse at the Berlin Activities Depot.
During a sentencing hearing last Friday, a Worcester County Circuit Court judge found Catherine Deutsch, 33, of Berlin, guilty on three counts of failing to report child abuse/neglect and sentenced her to a total of four years and six months of incarceration, with all but 90 days suspended. The sentencing comes three months after Deutsch entered a guilty plea to the three misdemeanor charges.
“She admitted that she saw what was going on but didn’t know what to do about it,” Assistant State’s Attorney Pam Correa told the court at a November hearing.
In November of 2023, the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office launched an investigation into the Berlin Activities Depot’s Berlin Education Station after law enforcement and Child Protective Services were notified of an eight-month-old who had been admitted to Atlantic General Hospital with a broken tibia. The sheriff’s office alleged that video footage of the infant classroom revealed Heather Ward, 40, of Berlin, had caused the child’s injuries and showed other concerning interactions with several other infants under her supervision.
As a result, a grand jury last March indicted Ward on 90 charges, including 10 felony counts of child abuse and 80 misdemeanor counts of second-degree assault. And in June, Deutsch, who worked alongside Ward in the infant classroom, was arrested on 15 misdemeanor charges, including neglect of a minor and failure to report child abuse/neglect.
Having entered into her own agreement with the state’s attorney’s office, Ward in August submitted an Alford plea to nine counts of second-degree assault, for which she was sentenced to 18 years.
She didn’t know what to do about it?
I call BS. Anyone who works with kids, regardless of the age group, is required to have child abuse and neglect training. This training requires that a call be made to report abuse/neglect immediately and a written report be filed with both DSS and the State’s Attorney’s office within 48 hours. After said training is complete, participants are required to sign off indicating their understanding.
Failure to report, at a minimum, is revocation of all licensure, incarceration and a significant fine. I don’t know what happened in this case, but I’m wondering why the maximum penalty was not handed down.
Childcare workers are mandated reporters for suspected abuse-she HAD to have been trained on that and for whatever reason, did not.
@3:01 You never really know what a judge will do…what is just and fair does not always happen.