Former Westerville daycare worker gets prison sentence for taking child to bathroom alone
A former Westerville daycare worker was sentenced to two years in prison after a heated sentencing hearing Thursday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.
David Cantrell, 31, had previously entered a guilty plea to a felony count of endangering children. Cantrell was initially charged with two counts of gross sexual imposition.
The plea entered by Cantrell does not have a sexual component, according to court records, which means Cantrell will not be required to register as a sexual offender.
In April 2023, Cantrell had been arrested after Westerville police received a complaint the previous June about Cantrell's interactions with a child while he was working at Nest Schools, located on Dempsey Road in Westerville.
The complaint alleged that Cantrell inappropriately touched a 3-year-old girl while helping the child used the restroom. Nest Schools fired Cantrell shortly after being made aware of the complaint against him in 2022.
During Thursday's hearing, Jonathan Bond, attorney for the victim's family, said the girl's story was "lost in translation" during the initial investigative process because she was the child of immigrants and did not primarily speak English.
"This entire process has been a crippling disappointment," Bond said.
After news of Cantrell's arrest, Westerville police received dozens of calls from other parents with similar concerns about Cantrell's conduct.
During Thursday's hearing, Judge Karen Held Phipps asked Cantrell — who maintained he had not done anything sexual with any child — what he was admitting to having done wrong.
"He’s admitted guilt for creating a situation that could have caused harm to a child, taking a child alone to a bathroom in this setting," defense attorney Brad Koffel said.
Phipps also admonished Koffel while Bond was speaking for talking to Cantrell. Koffel said he was talking to his client because Bond had mentioned a lie detector test that Cantrell failed which Koffel said he was unaware of Cantrell taking.
Lie detector tests are not typically admissible during trials.
Phipps asked Koffel if Cantrell wanted to withdraw the guilty plea he had previously entered but both Koffel and Cantrell declined, saying they recognized that the situation Cantrell created by taking a child to the bathroom alone created a precarious set of circumstances.
Phipps said she was "greatly disturbed" by the number of parents and former coworkers of Cantrell's who had expressed concerns.
"When it comes to rehabilitation, until you admit you have a problem, I must protect the public, I must protect the children, that is my job," Phipps said.
While there had been a joint recommendation for sentencing Cantrell to community control, commonly called probation, Phipps deviated from the agreement and ordered Cantrell to spend two years in prison.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Westerville daycare worker sentenced for inappropriate actions with girl
