Woman Charged In Daycare Death Pleads Not Guilty
FT. LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – A South Florida woman who, along with her daughter, was indicted in the death of a 4-year old boy who was left for hours in a daycare van went before a judge Thursday morning.
During her appearance before Broward Circuit Judge Cynthia Imperato, 43-year old Cecily Roberts entered a plea of not guilty to the charge of aggravated manslaughter.
Roberts, her daughter Camille Gordon, 20, and daycare worker Paris Ward, 19, were charged in they death of 4-year old Jordan Coleman who died after being left in a hot SUV in Tamarac. Each of the women has been charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child. Roberts was also charged with felony child misrepresentation.
Roberts and Gordon were taken into custody Sept. 28th in New York where they were allegedly operating another unlicensed daycare center.
According to investigators, Coleman was supposed to be taken to Robert's 3 C's Day Academy in Sunrise on August 1st. Instead, Ward and another worker reportedly put the boy and 7 other children in to the Toyota Sequoia and driven to an apartment building in Tamarac.
Records show the daycare's owner, Roberts, had been cited before for overcapacity at her daycare so that is why, according to detectives, the kids were taken to the apartment. The other kids were taken to the apartment but somehow Coleman was overlooked.
Several hours later, Ward discovered the boy in the back of the SUV and called 911. She originally told investigators the boy inexplicably collapsed while getting in to the SUV.
The doctor who measured Coleman's body temperature said it was 108 degrees.
Coleman's mother, Fantasia Goldson, has filed a wrongful death suit against the former center and its owners.
