Day-care provider denies charges
Toolbox
By Susan Smallheer Herald Staff - Published: November 18, 2008
BRATTLEBORO — A licensed day-care provider pleaded innocent Monday to charges that she locked four children — two infants and two toddlers — in a garden shed last month to avoid state inspectors because she was over her state limit.
Diane Wood, 40, of Guilford, pleaded innocent to four felonies ranging from two counts of abandoning or endangering children under the age of 2, one count of cruelty to a child under the age of 10, and one count of unlawful restraint in the first degree, which carried the most severe penalty — 15 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. Wood ran Diane's Family Day Care at her home on Church Drive.
Wood was released on conditions set by District Judge Karen Carroll, who ordered that Wood not have children under the age of 16 on her property, except for her own three children.
Wood told police that she locked the children in the shed because she was taking care of more children than her state license allowed. She said she put the children in the shed as she saw the state auditors pull into her driveway.
"According to Wood, when the state auditors arrived at her residence yesterday (Oct. 2, 2008) she observed them through her kitchen window and panicked," an affidavit from Vermont State Police Detective Sgt. Richard Holden wrote.
Holden added that Wood told him it was the first and only time she had locked children in the shed, although "she always had in the back of her mind that if the state showed up she would hide the children in the shed."
According to court records, the two state auditors, Jeanette Fisher and Kelly Lyford, were alerted that children were missing when one of the children at the day care asked Wood where one of the missing children were.
The state went to Wood's center because they had received information that she was caring for more children than the six she is licensed for, court records stated.
The two infants were in their infant car seats, while the two toddlers, who were both 3 years old, were left to roam around the shed, which contained pool chemicals and an unguarded table saw, among other hazardous equipment or materials.
While the children were in the shed for about 15 minutes before they were rescued by the state inspectors, one 3-year-old boy told state police investigators that he was scared to be locked in the shed.
Wood was licensed to have six children in her day-care center, which is located in her home, but it appeared she was taking care of 10 children, in addition to her own three children.
Contact Susan Smallheer at susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com.
21