Bucks Co. Woman Sentenced In Infant's Death

UPPER SOUTHAMPTON, PA — A Bucks County woman was sentenced to prison in a case involving an infant who died at her unlicensed daycare facility.

Lauren Landgrebe, 50, was sentenced to one year less a day to two years less a day at Bucks County Correctional Facility, followed by 10 years of probation, for the 2019 death of an infant who died from asphyxiation by strangulation after being placed incorrectly in a car seat and left unattended for about two hours.

Bateman also sentenced her to pay $1,758 in restitution, have no contact with the families of the victim, and banned her from providing childcare and babysitting services.

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Landgrebe was originally facing 36 years in prison. Prosecutors negotiated with Landgrebe's attorney, Louis Busico, and were able to secure a plea deal, which President Judge Wallace H. Bateman Jr. sentenced her to. Landgrebe had pleaded guilty to the charges back in June.

Landgrebe was charged back in 2019, a few months after Victoria Watson, an 11-month-old Warrington baby, was found unresponsive and cold in a car seat that was left on Landgrebe's kitchen table. She later died as a result of the injuries she sustained.

Detectives determined that Landgrebe had put the baby in the car seat at 1 p.m. that day for a nap. Landgrebe gave the baby a bottle at 2 p.m, propping it up on a rolled hand towel; she left the room and went out to her backyard swimming pool, where she spent the next two hours outside, the case's affidavit said.

She did not return to check on the child until 4 p.m. after she was unconscious, the affidavit said. Detectives obtained a Snapchat photo that Landgrebe took of the napping baby sometime after 2 p.m. The photo showed the child "slumped low" in the car seat with the chest strap around her neck. The car seat's leg straps were not engaged, the affidavit said. Detectives determined that she deleted this picture after she found the infant unresponsive.

Landgrebe had operated an illegal daycare out of her home on Rosebud Road, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. She told authorities that she provided care for up to eight children at a time, a Sept. 4 cease and desist letter from that agency said.

Landgrebe's husband arrived home around 4 p.m. and noticed that the infant had a liquid coming out of her mouth. He administered CPR to Watson while waiting for paramedics to arrive.
During the investigation, detectives found Landgrebe had been collecting Social Security Disability payments for about 10 years. She had claimed in filings that she was unable to work, yet she did not report any income from the daycare business, officials said.

Judge Bateman called Landgrebe’s actions callous, according to the Bucks County District Attorney's Office, and that she had caused "a lifetime of heartache that no judge can heal or cure."

Prior to sentencing, Bateman heard eight emotional impact statements from relatives of the baby.

"The world lost a beautiful light that shone upon anyone who came into contact with her," Watson's mother said.

Watson's father described her as "the sweetest baby you can imagine." He added that the tragedy was 100 percent preventable.

"Five seconds to engage the leg straps and we’re not here," he said of the incident that claimed his daughter's life.