Tica Sentenced for Shaking U.S. Baby

Ligia María Naranjo, 29, was sentenced Sunday to 10 years in jail for mistreating a five-month-old baby who was in her care when the Costa Rican woman worked as a nanny in Boulder, Colorado.

In exchange for a reduced six- to 10-year sentence, Naranjo pled guilty July 28 to two counts of child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury, according to an online story by the Daily Times-Call, a northern Colorado newspaper.

Boulder police arrested Naranjo March 8, after her employers, Christina and Sean McLaughlin, took their baby, Von, to a local hospital.

Doctors determined Von had suffered bleeding on the brain on two occasions, and a broken collarbone, both likely results of shaken-baby syndrome, the Daily Times-Call reported.Von is now developing normally.

Naranjo had been taking care of Von and the couple’s other young son since January. Sean McLaughlin told investigators Naranjo said she shook the baby to make sure he was OK, the Daily Times-Call reported. Naranjo apologized in court Sept. 8, saying she never meant to hurt the baby.

Naranjo’s parents, who live in Moravia, northeast of San José, visited Boulder to be with her during her court dates, the daily La Nación reported. The former Sunday school teacher and aspiring art student’s Web profile, profile.xanga.com/liblue, apparently created before the March 8 incident, listed among her interests God, Starbucks, Colorado, photography and “Delaney and Von of course!! My two lil’ angels… so cuute!”