2nd Ohio church day care worker convicted of giving children sleep supplement in their candy

Ohio worker guilty of giving kids sleep supplement

CINCINNATI — A former Ohio church day care worker has been convicted of endangering children by slipping a dietary supplement into candy to get them to sleep.

Forty-two-year-old Cincinnati resident Donna Scott faces sentencing Sept. 15 on three counts of child endangering, carrying a maximum possible penalty of six months in jail.

Prosecutors say she and a co-worker wanted the children to sleep to make their jobs easier and gave them melatonin, a naturally occurring hormone whose possible side effects in supplement form include dizziness and nightmares.

Scott’s attorney told jurors she used poor judgment and parents were right to be upset. But he contended she didn’t commit a crime.

The other worker was sentenced to six months in jail after convictions for child endangering and misrepresentation by a child care provider.