A Sterling family day-care operator who left nine children alone for an hour last year was sentenced to six months in jail Wednesday, May 31.
In February, Lisa Proctor Rickard, 38, a licensed day-care operator, pleaded guilty to two charges of cruelty and injuries to children, both class six felonies.
On April 28, 2005, Lisa Proctor Rickard, 38, 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 there 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 Wednesday, Circuit Court Judge James H. Chamblin sentenced Rickard to two years in jail on each count with all but six months suspended. She will be on supervised probation for four years after she is released from jail. Rickard is being held in the Loudoun Adult Detention Center in Leesburg.