Riverside babysitter accused of injuring 15-month-old boy gets 6 months in jail

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Credit: JIM NOELKER

A Riverside woman accused of seriously injuring a 15-month-old boy in her care more than a year ago will spend six months in jail.

Hoang Thi Kim Do, 53, was sentenced Wednesday in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court to 180 days in the Montgomery County Jail and is due to report April 12, according to the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office.

Do pleaded guilty March 6 to a felony count of endangering children.

The boy was admitted Feb. 25, 2023, to the pediatric intensive care unit at Dayton Children’s Hospital, which notified the Riverside Police Department of suspected abuse, according to a police incident report.

“When the parents of the victim picked the child up, they suspected injury and took the child to Dayton Children’s where it was learned the child had a subdural hematoma and other injuries consistent with physical abuse,” prosecutor’s office spokesman Greg Flannagan said previously.

In addition to the subdural hematoma, a brain bleed to the back of the head, the boy had bruising on various parts of his body.

Do told an officer that the boy was injured when he fell from a hammock supported by a metal stand or off a couch to the wood floor. However, hospital staff told police the injuries did not appear consistent from a fall, according to the police report.

Do’s attorney said Hoang does not speak English and in her anxious state she initially provided a false account of what led to the boy’s injuries but that she later returned to the police and acknowledged she had been untruthful and is sorry about the incident, according to a sentencing memorandum.

Her attorney sought to avoid a prison or jail term for Do because she is undergoing treatment for breast cancer and is the caregiver of her ailing 87-year-old father who doesn’t want strangers taking care of him.

In addition to her jail term, Do must pay $12,842 in restitution, have no contact with the victim, and she will be on probation with intensive supervision for up to five years.

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