Inver Grove Heights daycare owner sentenced

An Inver Grove Heights woman charged with failing to report sexual abuse of a child at her licensed home daycare was sentenced last week to 10 days of sentence to serve, probation for one year, and 30 hours community work service by Judge Leslie Metzen of Dakota County.

The maximum sentence for the misdemeanor was three months in jail or a $1,000 fine.

Deborah Marie Schneider, 43, failed to report her husband Christopher John Schneider, 48, after the parents of an almost three-year-old girl contacted her last August to report possible sexual abuse. The victim told her grandmother that Christopher Schneider had sexually touched her during potty training, a claim he later acknowledged was true according to the criminal complaint. The grandmother contacted the victim's parents, and when the parents of the child contacted Deborah Schneider, according to the criminal complaint, she asked them to not go to the authorities because the daycare was her only source of income.

No further reports of abuse were reported after the family of the victim came forward.

Deborah Schneider had been a licensed daycare provider in the city since October of 1995 and had provided daycare services out of their home on 69th Street in Inver Grove Heights.

Christopher Schneider was convicted of Criminal Sexual Conduct in the Second Degree and was sentenced on February 27 by Judge Leslie Metzen to 180 days in jail, 15 years probation and restitution in connection with the sexual abuse of a child. Judge Metzen also stayed the execution of a 36-month prison sentence which could be imposed in the future if Schneider does not follow the court's orders. Schneider was also ordered to successfully complete sex offender treatment, comply with polygraph testing and have no contact with the victim or have any unsupervised contact with children.

For information on preventing child sexual abuse or how to talk with your children go to these resources: Stop It Now at www.StopItNow.org, the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center at www.JWRC.org or the National Association to Prevent Sexual Abuse of Children at www.napsac.us.

- Dakota County Attorney's Office
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