A judge sentenced a North Dakota woman Tuesday to nearly 19 years in prison in connection with the death of an infant and injury to another boy that authorities linked to an unlicensed family day care center.
Patricia Wick of Jamestown was indicted last year. She pleaded guilty in January to felony counts of murder and child abuse and a misdemeanor count of operating an unlicensed child care center in Carrington.
North Dakota unlicensed daycare operator charged with murder in infant death
For the murder charge, State District Judge James Hovey sentenced Wick to 40 years in prison, suspended for 20 years, with more than a year already served. She will be registered as a child offender and she will be required to serve 10 years of supervised probation. The judge also imposed lighter sentences on other charges. Wick must also pay $810 in court costs for her child abuse charges.
Patricia Wick, who operated an unlicensed day care center in Carrington, North Dakota, was sentenced to nearly 19 years in prison for murder. (Fox News)
Wick’s public defender, Samuel Gereshek, and Foster County State’s Attorney Kara Brinster did not immediately respond to phone messages left Wednesday.
Prosecutors allege Wick inflicted head and neck injuries on the 5-month-old boy, causing his death on Sept. 28, 2022, according to an affidavit from Carrington Police Chief Christopher Bittman. An autopsy determined the infant died from “complications of blunt force head and neck trauma,” and the death was ruled a homicide, according to the affidavit.
Wick told authorities that day that she “may have put (the baby) down too hard” and that she was not gentle and was frustrated, according to the affidavit.
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Authorities also allege in court documents that another child fell from a backyard swing and broke his arm while in Wick’s care, and that Wick did not immediately report the injury to his parents. are doing.
