Childcare Abuse Cases Span Four States

Several childcare workers are facing or have received criminal penalties in separate child-abuse cases. In Virginia Beach, Jimmie Jane Grantham is charged with felony child abuse after prosecutors alleged she struck a 10-month-old with a bottle and caused a fractured shin at a daycare; the case is based on a police investigation and surveillance footage. In Colorado, a former Windsor childcare worker who pleaded guilty to felony child abuse was sentenced to 15 days in jail, supervised probation and community service. In Arkansas, former school daycare worker Asher Ellis is awaiting trial on rape and child sexual-abuse material charges, after a psychologist found him fit to proceed despite a defense claim that he was not criminally responsible. In North Carolina, Mia Pennington was charged with multiple felonies after police said a 9-month-old in her care suffered multiple leg fractures at an unlicensed childcare facility.