MUSKEGON, Mich. - Keysha Collins, the owner of Keysha's Keepers Day Care in Muskegon, pleaded guilty in May to second-degree child neglect after a 1-year-old boy died in her care in April 2017.
Korey Brown was found unresponsive in a playpen at the daycare when his mother went to pick him up. The mother said she noticed bites and bruises on his face and she called 911.
After a lengthy investigation police determined Brown was crying and another child at the daycare, an 8-year-old girl, tried to help but ending up causing the baby's death.
Collins was never accused of directly injuring Brown. She also pleaded guilty to a state licensing violation which requires her to be awake while caring for children and her home daycare.
At a sentencing hearing Wednesday, July 11 Collins learned she'll be on probation for five-years. As long as she successfully completes probation she will not serve a jail sentence. If she violates conditions of probation at any time the judge could send Collins to jail for six-months.
In court Collins told the judge she fell asleep for 20-minutes. It's during that time Brown was injured.
She apologized to Brown's family, and accepted responsibility for what happened.
"I never intended for any of this to happen," Collins said. "Never in a million years would I put a child in harms way intentionally."
Korey Brown's grandmother Deborah Moore also spoke to the judge before sentencing on behalf of her daughter, Korey's mother.
"Imagine receiving a phone call from your child who is miles away broken, scared, distraught,," said Moore. "Yelling thru the phone he's not breathing, mom he's not breathing,."
Moore told the judge that event changed their family forever.
The sentence also orders Collins to pay Brown's family $1.8-million in restitution.
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