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Fitchburg Police Arrest Woman On Child Abuse Charge
April 29, 2010
FITCHBURG, Wis. -- A Fitchburg woman was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of physically abusing children who attended a day care at her residence, police said.
Police said detectives have identified four children under the age of 1 year who were injured while in the care of Michelle S. Christensen, 40, of Fitchburg.
Three of the children involved have been treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said. Medical examinations of the infants are continuing on an outpatient basis.
Police said a search warrant was executed at the suspect's residence in the 2900 block of Osmundsen Road on Wednesday, and the suspect was arrested at that time.
[...]
The suspect has been booked into the Dane County Jail on a tentative charge of physical abuse of a child. Additional charges are likely as the investigation is completed, police said.
Detectives said they want parents who have used Christensen's in-home day care to contact the Fitchburg Police Department at 608-270-4300.
Fitchburg police said they were initially contacted about possible abuse last fall and that investigators re-launched their investigation on April 22 after a child came home with bruises and scratches.
Police said Christensen had been running a day care on and off for a while and was certified with the county at one point. The Wisconsin Department of Children and Families said she was never at any point a state licensed day care provider.
Police said they are not yet sure how many children she cared for. Authorities said that when officers served a warrant Wednesday, Christensen had four children in her care.
http://www.channel3000.com/news/23297953/detail.html

Woman Released On Signature Bond
April 30 2010
FITCHBURG, Wis. -- A Fitchburg day care provider accused of abusing children was released from jail on a signature bond Thursday as police and prosecutors said they continued to compile evidence.
Neighbors who know Michelle Christensen, 40, said they were in disbelief and were wondering if it was just a misunderstanding.
Neighbors on Osmundsen Street in Fitchburg said they were stunned to learn Christensen, owner of an in-home day care, is suspected of abusing four infants in her care.
"(They're) good people, good parents, as far as I know. I haven't had any problems, and I'm shocked to hear this," said neighbor Rick May, whose granddaughter plays with Christensen's son. "I heard something about there were some kids who got sick and had to go to the hospital, but I thought they got into something."

Police said at least three infants at Christensen's day care showed severe bruising, and according to court documents, Christensen said the injuries to one child occurred as a result of her 5-year-old son striking the child two to three times with the cloth end of a closed umbrella.
[...]
http://www.channel3000.com/news/23313004/detail.html

Initial Court Appearance For Fitchburg Day Care Provider Delayed
Woman Accused Of Abusing Children
May 18 2010
MADISON, Wis. -- A Fitchburg day care provider accused of physically abusing children in her care appeared in court on Monday, but her initial appearance was delayed.
The district attorney's office still hasn't filed formal charges against Michelle Christensen.

The 40-year-old woman faces at least two counts of physical abuse of a child after her arrest last month.

Police said four children under the age of 1 year were injured while in Christensen's care. Three of the children involved were treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
[...]
http://www.channel3000.com/news/23594030/detail.html

Fitchburg Day Care Provider Charged With Child Abuse
Woman Facing 5 Felony Charges
MADISON, Wis. -- A Fitchburg day care provider accused of physically abusing children in her care has been formally charged with five counts of felony child abuse.
[...]
Court documents now detail five abuse cases she has been charged in and six additional cases in which children sustained unexplained bruising while in her car.
She also allegedly told a county social services worker she struggled with bipolar disorder, according to court documents.
http://www.channel3000.com/news/23850182/detail.html
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Michelle S. Christensen​
 
A Dane County jury early Saturday morning found former day care provider Michelle Christensen, 42, of Fitchburg, guilty on one of seven counts of causing minor but widespread injuries to children in her care.

The jury found her not guilty on three of the counts and could not reach a unanimous decision on the other three, Christensen's attorney, Mark Eisenberg, said Saturday.
[...]

During the one-week trial, prosecutors said the abuse ranged from a 5-month-old girl who had bruises and scrapes on her face, which Christensen said happened when her 5-year-old son hit the girl with an umbrella, to a 1-year-old girl who appeared to have been slapped in the face by an adult hand.

"The case is about the totality," Assistant District Attorney Brian Asmus said during closing arguments Thursday.

The jury found Christensen guilty in the case of the 1-year-old who appeared to have been slapped, Eisenberg said. The maximum penalty for the charge is a fine of $10,000 and six years of combined prison and extended supervision.

Eisenberg, who said he expects to appeal the decision, argued that prosecutors failed to prove that Christensen had any connection to injuries suffered by the children, and that some of them might not have been injuries at all because they were so poorly documented.

One of the children, for example, who was just under 1 year old at the time, had a bruise on her forehead, and her parents had warned Christensen that she liked to climb.

The girl's pediatrician said it looked as though she hurt herself falling from a standing position, Eisenberg told jurors.

"The state wants you to speculate that this happened under her care, and they have no proof of that," Eisenberg said.

Instead, Eisenberg accused police and one of the state's expert witnesses, Dr. Barbara Knox, a child abuse specialist at American Family Children's Hospital, of being biased against Christensen, looking to prove preconceptions that cases of abuse had occurred when, he argued, they hadn't.

Asmus also told jurors that Christensen's explanations for the injuries suffered by the children, when she offered them, were ridiculous and unlikely.
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/lo...cle_2ef3e9b0-49ee-11e1-80eb-001871e3ce6c.html
 
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