Charge: Baby suffered broken femur at Woodbury day care

A criminal charge has been filed against a woman who worked at a Woodbury day care facility after a 9-month-old girl suffered a broken femur earlier this year.

Thirty-five-year-old Chantelle Vevang was charged Friday in Washington County District Court with felony malicious punishment resulting in substantial bodily harm of a child. According to the criminal complaint, Vevang worked at Stepping Stones Early Learning Center when the baby girl suffered a broken femur bone in her leg on April 11, 2024.

The criminal complaint explains that Vevang initially claimed the baby was fussy after taking an afternoon nap. She said the baby needed a diaper change and that the child was "squirming a lot" and had fecal matter "all the way up" her back. While changing the diaper, Vevang claimed she might've used "a little too much pressure" pushing the baby's right leg back while changing her diaper.

Why did she think she applied too much pressure? Because she allegedly said she "heard a crack or a pop sound" before the baby "cried in pain and screamed louder," the complaint says.

Vevang, however, at the time of the incident, told another staff that the baby fell while trying to pull herself up to stand. When the baby's grandparents picked her up that day — the baby's parents were away on vacation — they were told that the girl had fallen. When they brought their granddaughter home, they found her leg swollen and red marks near her groin. The next morning, the leg swelling had worsened and a trip to the doctor revealed the broken femur bone.

The daycare facility later learned of Vevang's story changing and they alerted the grandparents to the Vevang's version that included an admission of applying pressure to leg and hearing a popping sound.

"The medical team at Children's Hospital concluded that the injury was a severe totally displayed femur fracture and that the injury could not have occurred from a routine diaper being changed, or from a routine fall," the criminal complaint reads. "The medical team also found three small bruises in two different locations. The medical team concluded that the bruises were in area that are not expected from routine care or from a fall."

The 9-month-old wound up in a spica cast that began at her chest and extended all the way down to her broken leg.

If convicted, Vevang faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.