A woman admitted to aggressively handling children at a Blaine daycare center where she worked and will receive a month in jail and probation as part of a plea agreement.
Chloe Kaye Johnson, 25, of Andover pleaded guilty Monday in Anoka County District Court to felony malicious punishment of a child in connection with the abuse at Small World Learning Center last year.
Chloe Kaye Johnson (Courtesy of the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office)
The plea deal reached with prosecutors calls for a 30-day jail sentence and five years of probation. Johnson’s attorney can argue for electronic home monitoring or work release at sentencing, which is scheduled for Feb. 27. Five other charges, including third-degree assault, will be dismissed.
Co-defendant Elizabeth Augusta Wiemerslage, 24, of Coon Rapids, was sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years’ probation in May after pleading guilty to aiding and abetting third-degree assault and aiding and abetting malicious punishment of a child. She also reached a plea deal.
According to the criminal complaints, the parents of a 5-month-old reported alleged abuse July 16 after taking the infant to Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis after finding bruising on her thighs, groin, buttocks and legs.
Daycare surveillance video showed Johnson grabbing the infant by her lower body and “violently” flipping the child onto her back on a floor mat, the complaints say. The infant’s face hit the mat repeatedly during the incident, with Wiemerslage just a few feet away.
Police identified two other victims and contacted their parents.
In another video, Johnson picked up a second infant and held a cloth to the baby’s mouth and nose for several seconds while the child was crying. Johnson then gripped the child by the neck and shoved a bottle repeatedly in and out of the baby’s mouth. Later, Wiemerslage picked up the child and allegedly “violently slammed” her down on a support pillow, the charges say.
Elizabeth Augusta Wiemerslage Courtesy of the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office)
At another time, Wiemerslage picked up a third infant and “aggressively” shoved the child down onto a changing table. Later, Wiemerslage “violently” picked up the infant by the arm and “aggressively” moved the child around on a mat as Johnson watched.
Johnson initially told officers she was helping the infants learn how to roll over, but ultimately admitted she was “too rough, and admitted her behavior could have caused the (5-month old’s) bruising,” the complaint states. “(Wiemerslage) also admitted to her behavior and that it was wrong.”
Medical examinations showed the 5-month-old girl had bruising in nine areas that were consistent with a “grip injury” or “squeeze‐type injury,” while another infant was found to have a healing leg fracture “suspicious for nonaccidental trauma,” the complaint says. Bruising was found on three other infants who were in the care of Wiemerslage and Johnson.
The daughter of Rep. Nolan West, R-Blaine, was one of the victims of the abuse, and he later introduced legislation to require childcare centers with active maltreatment violations to retain video footage for 60 days and have cameras in their infant and toddler rooms.
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