Day care provider sentenced on misdemeanor charge of abuse or neglect of a child

A local day care provider will serve one month in jail, and is ordered to have no contact with children under 12, after pleading guilty to one misdemeanor charge of contributing to the abuse or neglect of a child. 29 year-old Alice Francis Vold was sentenced Tuesday in Madison by Circuit Court Judge Patrick Pardy. 

On May 24th of 2023, Vold was running a daycare where the 18-month old victim in the case was seriously burned by hot water. Vold’s attorney Cody Miller said in court Tuesday that a gate in the day care had been opened to allow children to go outside. While Vold was preparing the children to go out, the victim crawled up to a faucet that Miller said had been left running by another child. The water was estimated to be 146 degrees, said Lake County State’s Attorney Aaron McGowan. 

McGowan said Vold knew the water heater in the home was set too high, and had not taken measures to turn it down. Miller said the water heater was on its 2nd highest setting, or B Setting. He said that is the manufacturer’s recommended setting. Miller said Vold knew that water was hot, but was not aware it could cause burns in as little as 1.4 seconds. The child received skin grafts due to the severity of the burn. 

McGowan described that home as chaotic and not safe. He said Vold was using marijuana, a misdemeanor charge she also pleaded guilty too. McGowan also read text messages from Vold to her husband. Some of them said, “there are 4 kids crying in the living room, I’m hiding. I want to smack them all in their (expletive) heads.

In Court Tuesday, Vold apologized to the family. She said she takes responsibility for her actions that led to the child getting burnt, saying “it was my fault and I allowed him to get hurt. I didn’t physically hurt him and never wanted him to get hurt.”

Judge Pardy called it a horrific case with a very painful injury and said it was very traumatic to the victim and the victims family. He said the negligence in the case is through the roof. 

On the charge of contributing to abuse and neglect of a minor, The judge sentenced Vold to 1 year in jail, and suspended all but one month of the jail sentence. She was also ordered to pay fines, costs of and restitution, and have no unsupervised contact with a child under 12 that are not her biological children. 

Vold has 30 days to appeal the sentence.