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Iowa day care provider on probation in baby death

News

November 11th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – A Council Bluffs day care provider will be on probation for a year under a deferred sentence for the death of a 5-month-old boy in her care. Thirty-seven-year-old Teresa Chapin pleaded guilty on Thursday to aggravated child endangerment. Prosecutors say Chapin had put 5-month-old Lane Thomas in an adult bed for a nap on Aug. 17. He didn’t wake up. The autopsy says the cause of death was sudden unexplained infant death. Pottawattamie County attorney Amy Zacharias says that without medical evidence that shows anything other than sudden unexplained infant death syndrome, prosecutors couldn’t prove that Chapin caused the baby’s death. Sentencing won’t occur until late next year. If Chapin follows her probation terms, she won’t be given more punishment.