No Jail Time For Woodbridge Babysitter Who Had 6-Month-Old Die In Her Care

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — A Woodbridge woman who ran an unlicensed daycare out of her home in Iselin pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of endangering the welfare of a child, after a six-month-old baby boy died in her care in December of 2015. She admitted she was negligent in the death of the boy.

However, as a condition of her plea deal, Marianne McIntyre-Caulfield, 62, will serve no jail time. Instead, she was admitted into a three-year pretrial intervention, which is a probationary period for first-time offenders in New Jersey. She also is not allowed to have unsupervised contact with children under the age of 16 and is barred from ever again operating a daycare. After the end of three years, all charges are dismissed.

McIntyre-Caulfield ran the under-the-radar daycare out of her home on Middlesex Avenue in Iselin. Police say she was alone, watching as many as eight children at any one time. Investigators also said the home had unsanitary conditions and that it was dirty.

On the afternoon of Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015 McIntire-Caulfield noticed that six-month-old Baby William was “in distress" and called 911 at around 4:45 p.m. that day. EMTs found the infant unconscious and not breathing, and performed CPR. The child was pronounced dead at JFK Medical Center in Edison.

She admitted in court Thursday that she placed the baby on his stomach for a nap that day, because he had a history of acid reflux issues, according to NJ.com.

She was watching seven other babies that day, prosecutors later charged. She was arrested Dec. 29, 2015 and charged with second-degree child endangerment. Baby William's parents, Rob and Tracy Vidaurre, live in Rahway, and they spoke to the media about their son's death, saying they were relieved in December when McIntire-Caulfield was criminally charged. They also said she told them she had a license to run a daycare facility and that she was a registered nurse who knew CPR, neither of which were true.

Her defense attorney countered that the older woman had been watching children in her home for up to 30 years, including two older siblings of Baby William, both boys.

"She's cared for multiple generations of children, including in this family," Darren Gelber said, according to the Associated Press. Her defense said that the child died of sudden infant death syndrome.

She said in court Thursday that she now knows infants should be placed on their backs to sleep.

According to the state Department of Human Services, people may care for children in their homes without a license, as long as there are no more than five children, plus three of their own children, NJ.com reported. Anyone must be licensed if they are taking care of six or more children.

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