Nanny sent to prison for child abuse

Saturday, May 13, 2006 | 10:08 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - A former nursery school teacher and nanny has been sentenced to two to eight years in prison for shaking and striking an infant.

"I snapped ... I just snapped," Bethany Ford told Judge Donald Mosley on Friday, before being sent to the state penitentiary for injuring 3-month-old Ryan Kuckler. "He did not deserve, in any way, shape or form, to be treated the way he was. I am so sorry."

Ford pleaded guilty in January to a single count of child abuse causing substantial bodily harm stemming from the 2004 incident.

Kuckler parents, Paula Yakubik and Jason Kuckler, appeared in court and urged Mosley to send Ford to prison.

Ford was referred to the couple through a nanny placement agency. She had a clean record, she had been the lead nursery teacher at a local Mormon church and she had just recently completed a mission for the church. Ford also was taking childhood education classes.

Kuckler and Yakubik left Ryan with Ford in December 2004. Shortly after being left alone with the child, police said Ford called 911 and said Ryan was having a hard time breathing and focusing his eyes.

The baby was rushed to the hospital, where it was determined he was the victim of shaken baby syndrome. Authorities said at the time he suffered retinal hemorrhages, seizures, bleeding on the brain and possibly a hairline skull fracture.

Yakubik said it is unclear what Ryan's long-term medical prognosis is. There is the possibility he could have developmental problems later in life, she said.

"It's always something in the back of my mind," Kuckler said.

Ford's defense lawyer Kristen Lynch urged the judge to show leniency and put Ford on probation. She noted that the judge has received dozens of letters attesting to Ford's character. Lynch said Ford is also in good standing with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Since she was released from custody, Lynch said, Ford has been working at a $7-an-hour job at a local bakery, and she used almost all of her wages to come up with $2,500 in restitution money for the family.

"She is the most repentant defendant I've ever had," Lynch said. "I've never had a client whose been more remorseful."

Ford herself told the judge she is not a violent person.

"I didn't know I was capable of this," she said. "I never had any kind of incident of physical violence toward anyone.

As a bailiff handcuffed Ford and escorted her out of the courtroom, she mouthed the words "I'm sorry" to Ryan's parents.

Kuckler and Yakubik said they took no pleasure in seeing Ford sent to prison.

"No one won," Kuckler said. "No one wins."

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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com