A former daycare worker who pleaded guilty in June to simple assault and endangering the welfare of a child for pushing a 4-year-old girl down a flight of stairs was sentenced Wednesday to three months of incarceration at the county prison in Concord.
Sarah A. Gable, 53, of the 1900 block of Carter Road in Folcroft, will also serve three months of electronic home monitoring and a concurrent three-year probationary term under the sentence handed down by Delaware County Common Pleas Court President Judge Kevin F. Kelly.
The mother said she feels betrayed, outraged and powerless, and the incident forced her family to scramble for new accommodations for their child while missing work days.
“Sarah Gable, you are an adult and you should know better and do better,” she said. “You smiled in our face every morning as we dropped our child off. My family would like justice and to know why you did it.”
Defense attorney Daniel McGarrigle said Gable’s actions were a “complete aberration” likely brought on by several stressors in her life. He said her husband had recently been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing treatments. The family was also going through a foreclosure on their home, McGarrigle said.
“Everyone has stressors in their lives, but that is not an excuse to take that out on other people,” said Assistant District Attorney Danielle Gallaher. “It’s hard enough for these parents to leave their child in the care of another person; they shouldn’t have to fear that their child will be physically harmed in that care.”
McGarrigle said his client will not work in childcare again and is currently doing housekeeping at a Motel 6 to provide for her family. He pointed to several letters of support offered by friends and family, including a former employer who also runs a daycare center.
Gable’s sister-in-law also told the judge that the defendant is one of the kindest people she knows and initially dismissed the video footage as “impossible.” Another relative also said it did not seem possible that the person in the video was his cousin.
“There was just no way the person that I know would do something like that on purpose,” he said.
Gable told the judge she has been praying daily for the victim and her family to be able to move beyond the incident without negativity. She also apologized to the victim, daycare center, and her own friends and family for any damage she has caused.
“I just want to make it all better and I don’t know how to make it better,” she said. “So I know how to pray and just pray that (the victim) is okay and that the family is okay, and that they can forgive me and not have their lives destroyed by negative anger and resentment.”
Gable was ordered to continue seeking therapy and attending anger-management classes under the order. She is also not to work or volunteer in any position putting her in the care of children, or have any contact with the victim or her family.
