McKenna Newell, 21, of West Valley City, will severe 30 days in jail and spend 36 months on probation after pleading guilty to a reduced count of child abuse, a court heard earlier this month
A Utah babysitter who was caught on nanny cam kicking, hitting and covering the mouths and noses of five-month-old twins was sentenced to just a month behind bars for the vile abuse.
McKenna Newell, 21, of West Valley City, will serve 30 days in jail and spend 36 months on probation after pleading guilty to a reduced count of child abuse, a court heard earlier this month.
As part of her sentence she will also be forced to pay a fine of $5,000, complete 500 hours of community service and attend anger management classes.
A warrant for her arrest was first issued on January 5 after the children’s father saw footage of Newell attacking his two girls on a nanny camera that he’d set up in his home.
According to court documents, Newell is seen in the video putting a blanket over one of the twins’ faces to muffle her cries. She then picks up and shakes the infant before placing her back down in a crib.
Moments later, she removes the baby, holds her until she stops crying, and then places her down on the floor next to her sister.
When the child starts to cry again, Newell kicks her in the ribs and hits her legs, before administering the same vile attack on the other of the girls.
According to court documents, Newell is seen in the video putting a blanket over one of the twins’ faces to muffle her cries. She then picks up and shakes the infant before placing her back down in a crib
Footage from the same morning showed Newell putting the infant on the couch and ‘aggressively causing her head to bounce forward,’ and kicking the other baby ‘several times as she laid on the floor,’ prosecutors said.
After turning herself into authorities, Newell told investigators she was ‘frustrated and didn’t know what to do,’ admitting she was the nanny in the video but felt embarrassed and didn’t remember committing the violent acts.
Shortly after her arrest, Newell was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and ‘was actively engaged in treatment, communicating honestly, taking notes and completing homework assigned to her,’ according to counselors.
West Jordan Police Sergeant JC Holt said: ‘It’s our worst fear as a parent that something like that would happen to your child, especially with somebody you know that you’ve left that child in their care.
‘She lost her patience. She didn’t deal with it in a healthy manner. I think that all of us as adults, we can be susceptible to that at times.
‘It’s not excusable and it’s not okay, that’s why we handled the case the way that we did.’
Holt said the children were not seriously hurt in the incident and were checked out at Primary Children’s Hospital before being medically cleared.
Newell’s actions warranted felony charges because of the potential for serious bodily harm, he explained.
After turning herself into authorities, Newell told investigators she was ‘frustrated and didn’t know what to do,’ admitting she was the nanny in the video but felt embarrassed and didn’t remember committing the violent acts
She received the sentence of a 30 day jail term and three years probation on October 3.
Newell wasn’t in custody at the time of the hearing and she was ordered to report to the Salt Lake County Jail by October 11 to commence her sentence.
She had originally been charged with two counts of child abuse, but saw one of the charges dropped as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.
Newell advertised her babysitting services through Care.com, though the website said in a previous statement that they closed her account in January, just after she was charged.
A spokesperson told Fox13: ‘This incident is deeply disturbing to us and our thoughts are with the family. The individual in question did have a profile on Care.com which has now been closed but we do not employ the caregivers on our site and she is not, nor has she ever been, an employee of Care.com.
‘The safety of our community is of paramount importance to use and we have proactively reached out to local law enforcement to provide whatever assistance we can.’