CINCINNATI — A woman accused of lifting a 1-year-old by the hair and forcing the toddler's head to the ground at Small Kids Adventure Learning Center II in March 2022 was sentenced Thursday after she pleaded guilty to some of the charges she faced.
According to court officials, Kristian Hemmitt pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering children and was sentenced to 36 months in prison; the state dropped one charge of felonious assault and one charge of tampering with evidence Hemmitt faced.
In June 2022, Hemmitt was ruled incompetent to stand trial and ordered to seek treatment at Summit Behavior.
Investigators said Hemmitt pulled the toddler up by the hair, preventing her feet from touching the ground. Then, Hemmit walked 10 feet while performing a "push-pull" motion with the toddler's hair clenched in her closed fists.
According to court documents, the toddler suffered multiple scalp injuries visible in person and on recorded footage following the assault.
Investigators said Hemmitt attempted to alter the toddler's appearance to avoid detection of the assault. Court documents also allege Hemmitt tried to dispose of evidence of the assault in a trash can.
In 2022, 17 days after Hemmitt's arrest, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services suspended the daycare's business license.
Inspection reports through ODJFS showed multiple allegations of abuse or neglect leveled against Small Kids Adventure Learning Center II. According to those reports, in February 2022 video from one classroom showed a worker "...hitting a child with a toy, causing the child to fall backward; smack a child; grab a child by the front neck/throw child down to carpet; slam a child's hand in the door; hit (a) child in head with dustpan; grab two children by the back of the neck/drop them to the floor; throw a kid in a toy bin; slam a child to the floor; push a child's head down; and make a child sit in a feeding table for more than 1.5 hours."
The document also said video in the same classroom shows an employee grab a child by one arm and drop the child on the floor.
"This staff member was the owner of this location until the license was revoked August 2018," the document says. "This staff member has an ownership ban until August 2023.”
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