Orlando daycare worker who left a boy inside a hot van sentenced to 10 years probation
Former daycare worker sentenced
A former daycare worker who left a boy in a hot van where he died has been sentenced to 10 years of supervised probation.
ORLANDO, Fla. - An Orlando daycare worker who left a three-year-old boy inside a hot van, leading to his death, will avoid jail time.
Deborah St. Charles has been sentenced to 10 years of supervised probation after pleading no contest to manslaughter charges in the death of 3-year-old Myles Hill.
Police said St. Charles picked the boy up on the morning of August 7, 2017. After making two stops, she never checked to make sure he got out of the van. St. Charles told investigators she forgot about the boy, because she was on her cell phone at the time. The child was in the hot vehicle all day before he was discovered dead at night. Investigators said it got up to 144 degrees inside the van. They also found that St. Charles was not authorized to drive children.
The daycare, Little Miracles Academy, was shut down by the Department of Children and Families (DCF). The family then filed a negligence lawsuit against the daycare and settled out of court last year.
St. Charles was previously set to be sentenced in January but was postponed. Her sentencing was again postponed in February because the judge was out sick. On Wednesday, March 11, her sentencing picked back up. FOX 35 News was there and witnessed an emotional St. Charles sitting next to her defense team. Shes could be heard crying during the recess.
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The family of the boy left in the hot van says that "I don't think she should walk around and be free, Myles can't walk around and be free."
His great-grandfather even said that "If they give Mrs. Charles a million years, it means nothing to me. It don’t mean nothing. The only thing I want to see is if that door could open and Myles walk through."
However, her lawyer argued that she should not do jail time and said she was the only person who took responsibility and other workers should have been at fault too.
A pastor testified for St. Charles too, stating that she is a "person who would try her best to do what is right." A friend added that St. Charles is "very remorseful and has a heart of gold."
St. Charles eventually took the stand and said that "this wasn't done intentionally" while in tears, adding that she was working by herself.
She eventually was scheduled to just 10 years of probation.
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