Former child care center owner sentenced for battery
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POCATELLO — The former owner of a now-closed preschool and daycare center has been ordered to serve probation.
Melanie Lynn Anderson, 44, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of battery at a hearing Tuesday. After accepting the guilty plea, Magistrate Judge David Penrod granted Anderson withheld judgment and suspended a 10-day jail sentence.
Penrod instead ordered Anderson to serve two months of unsupervised probation.
While ordering the sentence, Penrod noted Anderson, as a result of the charges, has lost her business and is no longer licensed to work in child care, saying she has paid a “pretty severe price already.”
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Defense attorney Richard Blok said during the hearing he wished the judge had not read the police report. Blok said the police reports were largely “unsubstantiated claims by disgruntled former employees.”
Blok said the lone action Anderson was guilty of — and which she regrets — was grabbing a “young man’s wrist” firmly and leading the child to timeout.
The defense then laid out Anderson’s background, saying she had worked in several different professions — retail, food service, a call center and other similar jobs. Blok said working in child care was the first job Anderson viewed as a career.
Blok said that, because she was happy with her profession, she purchased the day care from her former boss. She knows now she was not prepared to run the business.
Anderson, speaking on her own behalf, said she “truly loves” working in child care, which she has been doing for nine years.
“This has been a very humbling and difficult time for me and my family,” she said.
An emotional Anderson apologized for what happened due to her errors in judgement, for the court costs that have been incurred because of the charges and to her former clients — especially the victim.
Penrod thanked Anderson for her comments and acknowledged the job is a very difficult one.
In addition to the probation, Penrod ordered Anderson to pay $387.50 in fees and fines.