A Washington County daycare operator who pled guilty to four counts of child endangerment earlier this year will spend under a week in jail. Forty-eight-year-old Debra Renee Crawford of Washington was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison and fined $2,500. According to Washington County Attorney Larry Brock, the judge suspended all but four days of the prison term and placed Crawford on two years of supervised probation.

While running an in-home daycare, Crawford had children as young as 3-years-old spend their naptimes strapped or tied to car seats. Mothers confronted Crawford in May of this year after their children told them about the situation. Brock says upon entering the room used for naps, the mothers discovered that their children’s claims were true. They also noted that the car seats were ill-fitting and the children were not sleeping.

At yesterday’s sentencing hearing, one of the mothers testified that her child reported this information several months prior to the discovery in May. After the mother asked Crawford about her child’s report, the daycare provider accused the child of lying.