A James City County woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to felony child neglect after the death of an infant in her care last year.
Kimberly Henretty, 59, was operating an unlicensed daycare out of her home in the 5000 block of Thomas Court on Aug. 9 when a 4-month-old baby in her care went into cardiac arrest. The baby, identified in court as Coleman Young, was pronounced dead by paramedics who responded to the scene.
The infant’s mother was present in the courtroom on Tuesday as Henretty pleaded guilty in Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court to a reduced charge, which amended the original Class 4 felony — punishable by up to 10 years in prison — to a Class 6 felony, which carries a 5-year maximum, for “showing a reckless disregard for human life.”
She also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of operating a daycare program without a license. Prosecutors decided not to pursue a third charge of child endangerment.
Henretty was indicted by a grand jury on March 15. On April 17, she turned herself into the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail, where she is still being held.
During the hearing, Henrico County special prosecutor Alison Martin told the court that 4-month-old Coleman had already been dead for a number of hours when emergency personnel arrived at the scene.
According to Martin, the daycare had been in violation of a number of state standards at the time of the incident. Henretty was found to be caring for 10 children, all under the age of 5, and the baby had been sleeping on a different floor without a baby monitor. A child abuse expert determined that the child had not been appropriately fed and had low blood sugar, Martin said.
Additionally, there were no AEDs — automated external defibrillators — in the home and some of the smoke alarms were not in working order.
The medical examiner’s office in Norfolk later determined the cause of death to be Sudden Unexplained Infant Death, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes as a term used to describe the sudden and unexpected death of a baby less than 1 year old in which the cause was not obvious before investigation.
Police previously said the daycare was not registered as a business and people learned about it via word-of-mouth.
Henretty is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 18.
Sian Wilkerson, 757-342-6616, [email protected]
