WELLSVILLE Day-care provider pleads innocent

A baby in her care died several days after authorities said it was shaken.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- A former day-care provider from Wellsville faces up to 10 years in prison in the August death of an infant in her care.
Billie Jo Weaver, 35, now of Marion, but formerly of Wellsville, was arraigned Monday in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court on a first-degree felony charge of involuntary manslaughter.
Weaver was secretly indicted recently by a county grand jury.
Prosecutors say sometime Aug. 6 or Aug. 7, Weaver handled 4-month-old Jareden Rawson of Wellsville in a manner that fatally injured him.
What happened: The morning of Aug. 7, Weaver took the baby to the Wellsville Fire Department when she sensed something was wrong with him.
Jareden died Aug. 14 in Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of head injuries consistent with a baby who had been severely shaken, assistant county Prosecutor Tim McNicol said after Weaver's arraignment.
McNicol refused to discuss the exact circumstances that led to Jareden's death, which was ruled a homicide last month by a coroner in Pennsylvania.
State action: Weaver operated a licensed day-care center from her home. Jareden was one of the children for whom she cared, McNicol said.
Jareden was the child of Kimberly Rawson Brown of Wellsville.
The state revoked Weaver's day-care license after Jareden was fatally injured.
"There are no other investigations" being conducted in connection with Weaver's day-care operation, McNicol said.
Weaver has three children of her own, ages 22 months, 4 and 7. They remain with her.
"There was no indication that she was a risk to her own children," McNicol said. At her arraignment before Judge C. Ashley Pike, Weaver pleaded innocent and asked for a court-appointed attorney, saying she cannot afford to hire her own.
Judge Pike granted that request and appointed Atty. David Powers of Columbiana.
The case is assigned to Judge David Tobin of county common pleas court.
Weaver is free on a $25,000 cash or surety bond. If convicted, she faces a 10-year maximum prison sentence.