Former Day Care Workers Get Probation In Connection With Death Of Baby, Prosecutor Says

Three former day care center workers were placed on probation after they were charged with failing to adequately care for a baby boy who died at a Highland Park day care center, authorities said.

The nine­-week-old boy died at the Above and Beyond Child Care Center on South Third Avenue in Highland Park on Sept. 10, 2014.

Sudden Infant Death was the cause of the baby’s death, but a contributing factor “was that the infant was placed on his stomach and left unattended for two hours,” according to a news release from Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey.

According to the news release:

Tanya Choy, 36, of Martinsville pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of child, and she was admitted to the Pre-Trial Intervention program.

She received a three-­year probationary term, and admitted she placed the infant face-­down in a crib and failed to check on his welfare.

Lorie McDermott, 49, of Milltown, and Blanca Jimenez, 61, of Edison, who also had been charged with child endangerment, were admitted to PTI for two years.

Each woman is required to pay the infant’s family $1,704.01 in restitution to cover some of the family’s expenses.

The charges filed against the defendants will be dismissed if they successfully complete the PTI program.

The three were admitted to the program following agreements reached with Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Lisa Miralles Walsh. The agreements were approved state Superior Court Judge Diane Pincus, sitting in New Brunswick.

Highland Park Detective Don Newton and Detective Sgt. Frank DiNinno of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office handled the investigation, which began when police were called to the center.

The baby was not responsive, and police rushed the infant to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where he was pronounced dead.