4-month-old dies at overcrowded, unlicensed day care, Missouri cops say. Owner charged
A 4-month-old went to sleep in a bouncer as an unlicensed day care provider attempted to care for 15 other children, Missouri police and news outlets reported.
When the provider returned to check on the child, the infant wasn’t breathing, Florissant police said.
The child, Aion Gibbs, was rushed to the hospital on Feb. 12, but he died of positional asphyxia, police said, citing the St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s office.
The Department of Justice defines positional asphyxia is a sudden death caused when the body’s position prevents someone from breathing.
Four months after the death, on June 12, day care owner and operator Judy Fields was charged with endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death, police said. Her cash-only bond was set at $100,000.
Police said Fields was operating the day care at an illegal capacity, caring for 16 children at once. As an unlicensed provider, she was only allowed to have six children in her care, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which regulates child care in the state, told McClatchy News in February.
“When an unlicensed provider is discovered to be providing child care to more than six children, they are notified that they have 30 days to become licensed or reduced to no more than six children,” DESE said.
She was notified days after the infant’s death, officials said.
Family members of Aion told KTVI that they were not aware that the day care did not have a license.
Florissant is about a 20-mile drive northwest of St. Louis.
This story was originally published June 13, 2024 at 9:46 AM with the headline "4-month-old dies at overcrowded, unlicensed day care, Missouri cops say. Owner charged."
