Criminal charge downgraded against Bristol Township woman accused of operating illegal day care where child died

Posted: May 9, 2018

The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office has downgraded a criminal charge against a Bristol Township woman accused of running an illegal day care where a toddler died last year.

Alivia Sawicki (L) and Jaimee Lee Gorman

At a preliminary hearing Tuesday, prosecutor Matt Lannetti formally changed the charge against Jaimee Lee Gorman, 36, from operating an unlicensed facility, a third-degree felony, to endangering the welfare of children, a first-degree misdemeanor. 

Gorman then waived her right to a preliminary hearing, sending the charge against her to Bucks County Court in Doylestown Borough for the next step in the legal process.

After Tuesday’s hearing, Lannetti said that the change was made because an endangering the welfare of children charge would prohibit Gorman from providing child care services in the future, something that a charge of operating an unlicensed facility would not.

In an email, a state Department of Human Services spokesman confirmed that endangering the welfare of children is among the offenses in the Child Protective Services Law that would bar someone from providing child care services.

Gorman, a single mother of three, remains free on $100,000 unsecure bail, which includes conditions that she not supervise any children other than her own.

Authorities allege that Gorman was operating an illegal day care center on June 16, 2017, the day 19-month Alivia Sawicki suffocated to death in a car seat that was left in a second floor bedroom of the home Gorman rented. A state-mandated review of the death found it appeared the chest buckle on the car seat pressed into Alivia’s neck when the child tried to get out of the seat, where she was placed for a nap. A 14-year-old relative of Gorman’s found the girl when she went to wake her.

The review, which was finalized in December, also found Gorman was watching nine children the day of the death; some days, the review found, she watched as many as 13 children. State licensing is required for child care providers regularly supervising four or more children who are not immediate family members.

The District Attorney’s Office initially declined to press charges against Gorman. But the case was reopened in March after this news organization began investigating the death after obtaining copies of state and county death reviews, known as Act 33 reports, that suggested Gorman was operating an illegal child care business.

Gorman’s attorney Michelle Grasso declined to comment on the decision to change the charge against her client, but expressed sympathy for the Sawicki family.

“This is a very tragic situation for everyone involved, especially for the Sawicki family. Our hearts definitely go out to them,” Grasso said. “This is an incident that will be etched in my client’s brain for the rest of her life.”

Reached Tuesday, Chris Sawicki said that he and his wife, Christina, who moved to Woodbury Heights, New Jersey, after their daughter’s death, were aware of the change in the criminal charge against Gorman. He urged state lawmakers to consider creating tougher penalties when children are seriously injured or die in child care settings.

“I feel that whatever the charge is, it doesn’t seem enough to get justice for our baby girl,” he added. “Nothing will bring her back.”

The state Department of Human Services, which oversees child care licensing and enforcement, confirmed Gorman was not a licensed child care provider, and that a state licensing investigator went to the home in the 1100 block of Fourth Street twice after Alivia’s death but no one was home. The state closed its investigation after unidentified “authorities” claimed the children in Gorman’s care the day of Alivia’s death were all family members, which would exempt her from licensing requirements. The DA’s office also stated previously it was told all the children were related to Gorman.

According to the probable cause affidavit, though, Gorman told Bristol Township police that she did not have a state license to provide children care services and police found more than four children in her care were not immediately family members.