Day care provider found guilty after baby sustains permanent brain damage

A Minnesota day care provider has been convicted of abusing a child in her care.

In an email news release, the Dakota County Attorney says 33-year-old Mariel Alexandra Grimm has been found guilty of first degree assault for seriously injuring a 13-month-old boy last year.

In September 2016, Grimm – who ran a day care out of her home in Eagan – called 911 to report that a boy she was taking care of was unresponsive, a criminal complaint says.

When medics arrived, Grimm was holding the baby. He had a pulse, but was unresponsive, and medics noticed that one of his pupils was "extremely dilated" while the other was not, which indicated to medics that he had suffered head trauma. 

He was taken to Gillette Children's Hospital for emergency surgery to remove a portion of his skull to release the pressure on his swelling brain. The boy remained in the hospital for months, and doctors say he has "severe and permanent brain damage."

Grimm told authorities that the boy "became stiff" and unresponsive while she was changing his diaper after a nap, the complaint says.

A child abuse pediatrician who examined the baby found he had bleeding around the brain, and therefore determined that the boy had been "violently shaken or thrown."

Grimm was convicted on Thursday and faces up to 20 years in prison. She'll be sentenced later this September.

Family insists she is innocent

Grimm's family and friends say that she's innocent and has been falsely accused.

Her sister-in-law wrote a Facebook post Friday that says the baby had a seizure, and that the medical expert involved in the case has falsely accused other people in the past – Fox 9 did a story on this last November.

Grimm's supporters have set up a campaign on FundedJustice to raise money for her legal battles and are determined to prove her innocence.