Rhonda Piehl ran "home alone" day care while she ran errands

[Dakota Valkyrie]

A Wausau-area day care provider was charged with six counts of child neglect after investigators accused her of repeatedly leaving seven babies and toddlers alone and unsupervised.

Rhonda S. Piehl, 35, was charged after detectives and social workers investigated a complaint filed by a relative of one of the children in Piehl's care. The relative told police that on April 14, she went to pick up the child at Piehl's home and found no adults present. The woman stayed until Piehl returned and then notified authorities.

On April 23, a Marathon County Sheriff's Department detective and a social worker went to the home to investigate and reported finding seven children between the ages of 11 months and 4 years alone inside. Six children were in a living room that was blocked from other rooms with step ladders and step stools and the seventh was sleeping in an adjacent room, police said.

The investigators were at the home for about 20 minutes before Piehl returned, according to court records.

Piehl told the detective that she had to run several errands in town and that she had left the children home alone about five times in the past, the complaint said. Piehl said her husband works long hours and she doesn't know many people in the area who could watch the kids for her.

"It's a bad decision on my part and sometimes you have to do what you have to do," WTF?? Piehl told the detective, according to the complaint.

Police ordered that the parents of all children Piehl watched be contacted and informed that the infants and toddlers no longer could be brought to the home.

[...]
Piehl, a mother of three children 14 years and younger, is not allowed to provide day care to children other than her own, or to have contact with the children or the families of her former clients, as a condition of her bond. Marathon County Circuit Court Judge Greg Grau ordered a $750 signature bond on the charges, each of which carries a maximum sentence of up to nine months in jail.

Piehl is not a licensed day care provider, according to police and online state records.

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/art...904280586/1981

[Thinkgoat]

"Sometimes you have to do what you have to do"? Seriously, someone can justify leaving young children and babies alone with that kind of rationale?

Becoming a daycare provider is a huge commitment. I would hope people would realize the pros and cons prior to accepting the responsibility of caring for these children. And seven children that young is way too many for one person to be able to provide a nurturing atmosphere, in my opinion. (There are also statutes for licensed and non-licensed)

She's fortunate nothing seriously happened while she was away and equally fortunate was the parent who discovered the adult-free home.

[Just my luck sucks]

As a single mom, that had to find day care for my kids, after throughly checking the provider out I would also pop in at unannounced times--20 minutes after drop off, 50 minutes after drop off, lunch time, mid-afternoon, later afternoon, early for pick up etc. Thank goodness I have an understanding employer.

I needed to know my kids were safe and being well cared for--fortunately my children's providers didn't disappoint.

As a working Mom, and eaten up with guilt for having to leave her children with another --I did what was in my power to check on my children.

I used to have dreams, terrible dreams, that my children were being locked in coffins or refrigerators right after I'd drop them off....thank god I didn't read D'D back then, I would have been a total basket case.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

I think good caring parents find the good caring day care providers the vast majority of the time.

I would not leave my kid with one woman and seven kids 4 and under.

[thehesbomb]

Oh my Lord. Just the thought of my little peanut being left alone for more than a couple minutes makes my heart hurt. I can't imagine what those parents must be feeling right now. What a blessing that nothing serious happened to those poor kids.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

A town of Maine babysitter caught leaving children home alone while she ran errands last spring has reached a plea deal on child neglect charges.

Rhonda Piehl will enter a guilty or no contest at 1:30 p.m. to some or all of the 11 counts of child neglect she faces. The 36-year-old Piehl is also charged with two counts of being an unlicensed day care provider.

Each misdemeanor charge carries the possibility of nine months in the county jail.
[...]

Piehl tried unsuccessfully last fall to get the two licensing charges dropped, claiming that they accused her of the same crime more than once in violation of her due process rights. A judge refused the request.

http://www.wsau.com/news/articles/20...er-plea-today/

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Marathon County Circuit Court Judge Greg Grau sent a warning Monday to all who provide care for children when he sentenced a woman who pleaded guilty to seven counts of misdemeanor child neglect to seven months of jail.
[...]

Piehl, 36, later told investigators that she previously left children home alone between five and 10 times while she ran errands. One parent, Mark Weiler, told Grau that Piehl told his daughter that she was out feeding the chickens when Piehl left the kids alone.

Stacy Heise told Grau that when police searched the home that April day, they didn't initially find her 10-month-old daughter who was left alone in a car seat in a back bedroom. Heise said her daughter feared her car seat for months afterward.

Though none of the children was physically harmed while left alone, Jessica Huggenvik, who had two children under Piehl's care, said some parents are struggling to forgive themselves for putting their children in this situation.

"I quieted gut instincts that something was wrong and was ignoring the signs," Huggenvik said.

As part of a plea agreement, Marathon County District Attorney Ken Heimerman and Piehl's attorney, James Connell, recommend Piehl serve three years of probation and never provide child care again.

Weiler described the recommendation as a "slap on the wrist" and "ridiculous."

Grau apparently agreed.

"I don't understand you," Grau told Piehl. "I don't know how you could have done this? How could you have walked away from those children?"

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/art...ome-alone-case

[Heather4877]

I don't know. I might be getting jaded but after reading all the articles on DD I tend to think that this chick will be fine. Seven months in jail to relax without all those screaming kids, a change in her ad, some lazy, douchebag parents, and a rate decrease and this bitch will be back in business in no time.

Not to say that the original parents were douchebags or lazy (based on the article I tend to believe that the opposite is probably true), but after this current cluster fuck it'll take a different sort of parents to jump at the chance to hand off their precious ones to someone who just doesn't give a flying fuck. Those types of parents aren't hard to find these days.

[Heather4877]

But then in defense of the the women's future clients, sometimes you have to do what you have to do, right?

[VXIII]

Sometimes you have to do what you have to do and wait to run those errands or load all the kids up and take them with you, excuses, excuses is all Im hearing from her lame statement...