Shakopee daycare provider charged after baby receives skull fracture

SHAKOPEE, Minn. (KMSP) - A 54-year-old Shakopee in-home daycare provider is charged after allegedly harming a six-month-old baby while he was in her care.

Laurie Ann Gregor is charged with first degree assault and two counts of malicious punishment of child.

On Sept. 14, Shakopee police responded to a report of an unresponsive six-month-old boy at an in-home daycare in the 1100 block of Hawthorne Circle.

Doctors at Hennepin County Medical Center discovered the infant had suffered a large skull fracture, bleeding on the brain and bruises on his legs, which could be consistent with a grip mark. One of the doctors called the injuries “life-threatening.”

The baby’s parents told police before they dropped off their baby at daycare that morning, the child was healthy, alert and eating normally. The mother received a call from Gregor around 11:30 a.m. telling her the baby wouldn’t wake up.

Gregor told police she was watching eight children that morning. She told police around 11:10 a.m. the baby fell asleep in his exersaucer/mobile play unit. When she picked him up, she noticed he felt “limp” and his breathing was erratic. She said she then mildly shook the baby four to five times. Gregor told police she put the baby on the floor to do CPR, but then later said “I don’t know if I dropped him to the ground.”

Before calling 911, Gregor called her husband, her daughter-in-law, her daughter and her son. Later, Gregor’s daughter-in-law showed police a text which said the baby had fallen off the counter while she was washing his bottle.

Four days after the incident, Gregor told police she lied and that the baby fell out of her arms while she was heating up a bottle for him and claimed she used mild shaking to try to wake the baby after she found he was still unresponsive. She also told police she was taking care of 10 children, which was more than she was allowed. She was taking care of two infants, three toddlers and five preschool children. She was only allowed to take care of four or fewer toddlers and infants combined.

Doctors told police the baby’s injuries were not from a “simple household fall,” but likely from abusive head trauma or non-accidental trauma.

According to online Department of Human Services records, her daycare license has been temporarily been suspended.