A Sterling day-care operator who left nine children alone for an hour last year was released from jail, last week. The judge reduced Lisa Proctor Richard's sentence from six months to the two months she already served for the crime.
Deputy Commonwealth Attorney James Fisher explained Rickard's defense attorney filed a motion to reconsider the sentence Circuit Court Judge James H. Chamblin applied to Rickard, 38, in February.
"Judges rarely put motions to reconsider on the docket," Fisher said. "They're not required to, but that's a decision they make in the chamber without telling why."
The licensed day-care operator pleaded guilty to two charges of cruelty and injuries to children, both class six felonies.
On April 28, 2005, Rickard left nine children between the ages of 9 months to 3 years old, in cribs in a dark room.
After approximately one hour, Virginia Department of Social Services and Loudoun Child Protective Services workers knocked on Rickard’s door.
Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Kraig Troxell said they came to her house to do a follow-up on an unrelated complaint.
"When they got their no one was home," Troxell said, "but they could hear a child crying."
Rickard arrived moments before service workers forced entry into her Sterling home.
On Friday, Chamblin reduced Rickard’s sentence from two years in jail on each count with all but six months suspended to the two months she already served at the Loudoun Adult Detention Center in Leesburg.