DHS temporarily closes St. Paul home day-care

A St. Paul home day-care has been closed, at least temporarily, while authorities investigate the circumstances surrounding a loaded gun found in a crib during a police search of the home last week.

St. Paul police found the gun, marijuana and drug paraphernalia when they executed a search warrant of a house in the 1100 block of Abell Street last Friday.

Several people were arrested and cited, including a 37-year-old woman, who apparently lived at the house and holds a license to provide family child care there. The woman was booked under suspicion of negligent storage of a firearm and child endangerment, both gross misdemeanors. She was released from jail Saturday. She has yet to be criminally charged. The Star Tribune does not normally name suspects until they are charged.

There was a total of four children at the home during the time of the search, said Sgt. Paul Paulos, a spokesman for the St. Paul police Tuesday. Three of them were the woman's children and one was the child of a friend, Paulos said. The children ranged in age from an infant to 17 years old. The children weren't there as part of the day-care, Paulos said.

The .44 Magnum was found under the crib's mattress, Paulos said. The crib, located in the woman's bedroom, is used by the woman's baby, who was not in the crib at the time of the search, Paulos said.

The woman's license to provide family child care was temporarily suspended late Monday, in essence closing the day-care. Ramsey County spokesman John Siqveland said that the county is waiting on the results of the criminal investigation before determining if any additional adverse licensing action will be taken. It's possible that even if charges aren't pressed against the woman, she could still face adverse action, Siqveland said.

"Due to the serious nature of the report under investigation, Ramsey County cannot ensure the safety of the persons served in your program," the order said. "The Commissioner of the Department of Human Services finds that the health, safety, and rights of children in your care are in imminent risk of harm. Therefore, the Commissioner is immediately suspending your license to provide family child care."

In a Monday statement, Jerry Kerber, Inspector General for DHS said, "The recent media reports regarding a police investigation involving this family child care provider give us all multiple reasons to be concerned about this case. We are working with Ramsey County to review the history of this license holder and determine the appropriate action to take related to child care that may be provided in this home."

The woman was charged in 2006 in Ramsey County District Court with malicious punishment of a child for allegedly strangling a 4-year-old boy in her care. She pleaded not guilty to the charge, which was dropped in 2007. Ramsey County attorney spokesman Dennis Gerhardstein said the charge was dropped because the case could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

According to the complaint in the 2006 case: The boy's mother told police that the woman called her on Nov. 28 to report that the boy had wet his pants twice. The woman also allegedly told the mother that her son had fought with another child and was scratched on the neck.

The boy's mother returned home from work and saw red marks on her son's neck that she considered fingerprints instead of scratches. The woman asked her son if he had fought with another child, and the boy said that he hadn't, adding that the woman from the day-care had strangled him, according to the complaint. A physician's assistant who examined the boy reported that the red marks on the victim's neck appeared to be imprints of fingers. In an interview at the Midwest Children's Resource Center, the boy told a doctor that the woman had strangled him.