Childcare worker charged with abuse

A Galesville woman faces two felony child neglect charges after a one-year-old child in her care required surgery for burns over nearly a quarter of his body.

Maegan Valley, 33, posted $2,500 cash bond after being charged with felony child abuse and neglecting a child, both causing great harm. Her initial appearance in court is scheduled for June 11.

According to court records, Valley initially told the child’s parents the baby woke up with hives and had become fussy. The parents took the child to a Winona, Minn. hospital because of peeling skin and a ring of skin around his wrist, the criminal complaint says.

A deputy interviewed a physician who reviewed the baby’s file and the physician concluded the injuries were consistent with “hot liquid splashing on the right side of the baby’s body.”

When first being interviewed by deputies on the day of the incident, April 11, Valley said she suffered from short-term memory loss and headaches and asked the deputy to leave her home, court records say. When deputies returned the next day, they spoke to her husband who said he believed “something happened” while he was dropping the couple’s children off, according to the officers.

The child was eventually hospitalized in St. Paul and underwent surgery for second- and third-degree burns over 24 percent of his body.