Three Alabma Church Daycare Workers Guilty of Child Abuse

Alabama -- In a high-profile child abuse case in Prattville, three co-defendant
swere sentenced to two years

in the Autauga Metro Jail on Thursday. They did not have to go to prison.

Circuit Judge Joy Booth gave Susan Baker, Leah Livingston, and Alice Sorrells each 20 years in prison for felony child
abuse. However, that sentence was split into two years in jail, two years of community corrections, and three years
of probation. Booth gave each woman a 90-day sentence for the misdemeanor charge of failing to report child abuse.
These sentences were to be served at the same time as the felony sentences.

Court records show that Baker, who lives in Prattville, pleaded guilty in January to two counts of child abuse and five
counts of not reporting child abuse.

The defendents all were employed at the Journey Church daycare center.
Livingston and Sorrells, both from Prattville, were found guilty in November on two counts of child abuse and five counts
of failing to report child abuse. In this case, there were three co-defendants, three victims under the age of 2, and 44 charges. 

District Attorney C.J. Robinson said that the abuse happened over time in the room for toddlers at the day care.
In the 400 block of Sheila Boulevard is a church for people of all faiths.

Child abuse is a Class C felony in Alabama, which means that the person who did it could go to prison for one to ten years. When the women were sentenced, their lawyers asked for probation because none of them had ever been in trouble with the law before.

During the trial, the state showed video from the classroom that showed the women hitting the babies, jerking them around in their cribs, and pushing them down in their cribs with force. Audio from the tapes showed that the victims screamed and cried.

Under Alabama law, daycare workers are considered "mandatory reporters," which means they must tell police if they see or think a child is being abused.

When a new worker was put in charge of the toddler room in March, the abuse was found. This worker said in court that she saw the co-defendants do things that she thought were abusive, and she told the daycare center's management right away. In May, the women were arrested.

WNCTIMES by Marjorie Farrington