Aurora woman charged in toddler’s August drowning
The baby sitter watching a 2-year-old who drowned last summer in Aurora has been charged with child endangerment and operating a child care facility without a license, the Will County state’s attorney’s office said Thursday.
An arrest warrant was issued for Tracy L. Kennedy, 37, of the 2700 block of Squaw Valley Trail in Aurora, with bail set at $50,000.
Kennedy is expected to turn herself in to Aurora police. She will have to pay $5,000 to be released while her first court date is pending, authorities said.
If convicted of both charges, she could face up to 11 years in prison and up to $2,500 in fines. Endangering the life or health of a child is an enhanced felony punishable by between two and 10 years in prison, while operating a child care facility without a license is a misdemeanor with a penalty of up to a year in jail and up to $2,500 in fines.
Kennedy was baby sitting for 2-year-old Abigail Holland of Aurora on Aug. 2 when the toddler drowned in Kennedy’s aboveground, backyard pool.
Police said Kennedy was caring for seven children at the time of Abigail’s drowning and three of her four biological children also were home at the time.
The Illinois Department of Child and Family Services requires home day-care center operators to get licenses, but Kennedy did not have such a license. She applied for a license June 21 but withdrew the application Aug. 9, just a week after Abigail’s drowning, according to DCFS documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Documents show Kennedy was warned by mail June 17 that she needed to “immediately stop operating” a child care facility in her home after a DCFS investigator paid an unannounced visit June 9.
During the visit, the investigator noted the aboveground pool in the backyard and wrote in a report, “There was also discussion on the requirements for safety regarding the pool.”
A day earlier, a DCFS investigator and an Aurora police officer saw seven children swimming unsupervised in the pool while other children were in the home, according to DCFS documents.
A day care hazard protection plan Kennedy had signed said the pool area was to be “gated and locked at all times.”
But on Aug. 2, after calling 911 about 10:40 a.m., Kennedy told police she noticed Abigail was missing, saw two doors open leading to the backyard, then found the toddler in the water.
Kennedy told police she began administering CPR, but it wasn’t enough. Abigail was pronounced dead at Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora.
The charges of endangering the life or health of a child and operating a child care facility without a license are the most recent in a string of criminal charges Kennedy has faced, court records show. According to Will County court records, she was found guilty in May 2011 of reckless driving stemming from a February 2008 crash that sent an Aurora woman to the hospital in critical condition and injured seven children in the woman’s car.
In September 2011, Kennedy was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol in North Aurora, according to Kane County court records. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to court supervision, fines and costs and ordered to attend a victim impact panel, records show.
DuPage County court records show Kennedy pleaded guilty and received court supervision for a June 2001 citation for failure to give aid or information after a crash that caused property damage.
She had twice filed for orders of protection against her husband, Michael R. Kennedy — once in March 1999, and again in June 2011, when he was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery — court records show.
After Abigail’s drowning, DCFS took Kennedy’s four biological children into custody and “placed them in the care of a relative,” spokesman Kendall Marlowe said in August.