BROWNSBURG, Ind. — A former Brownsburg teacher who witnessed a 7-year-old special needs student being forced to eat his own vomit and didn’t report it to authorities will spend no time in prison after taking a plea deal.
Julie Taylor, 49, pled guilty Tuesday in Hendrick County Court to one count of Failure to Make a Report – a criminal misdemeanor. Taylor – a former Life Skills instructor at Brownsburg Community Schools – was then sentenced to 90 days of probation and no prison time.
Taylor was one of five Brownsburg educators implicated in a Feb. 2023 incident where a 7-year-old special needs student was forced to eat his vomit off of a lunch tray. The other staffers were:
- Sara Seymour, 28
- Debra Kanipe, 64
- Life Skills instructional aide
- Kristen Mitchell, 39
- Life Skills instructional aide
- Meghan King, 25
- Kids Count registered behavioral technician
According to court documents, the lunchroom incident occurred on Feb. 16, 2023, although the school said officials weren’t aware until the late evening of April 12, 2023. Security video reportedly captured the incident.
The Brownsburg Police Department said that, during a meal break, Seymour told a Life Skills student that, if he vomited, he would have to eat whatever he threw up. The child indeed vomited on a tray provided by Taylor, at which point Kanipe provided the child with a spoon.
Seymour and Kanipe stood on either side while the boy ate a portion of the vomit, police said. The child then used paper towels to clean up what remained. Mitchell and King witnessed what happened.
According to the probable cause affidavit, video showed the involvement of the five staff members. None of them reported what happened.
In late April 2023, the Hendricks County Prosecutor’s Office filed criminal charges against all five staffers . Seymour and Kanipe were charged with felony neglect of a dependent while the other three were charged with misdemeanor failure to report.
In May, BCSC officials announced that the district had fired Seymour, Kanipe and Mitchell and Taylor had resigned. King – a behavioral tech with Kids Count – was not employed by BCSC and could not resign or be fired. Seymour and Taylor’s Indiana teaching licenses were later revoked .
On Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2024, Taylor entered a plea deal in Hendricks Superior Court 2 for one count of misdemeanor Failure to Report. She was then given a 90-day prison sentence that was suspended to probation. Court records show she may request expungement after probation.
Taylor is the second of the five staffers involved to have received her criminal sentence. Behavior technician Meghan King was given 180 days of probation in Sept. 2024 after pleading guilty to one misdemeanor count of Failure to Report.
Meanwhile, trial dates for Seymour, Kanipe and Mitchell have been delayed several times.
After being rescheduled 10 times, both Seymour and Kanipe are set to have their bench trials begin at 8 a.m. on Feb. 26, 2025. Mitchell’s bench trial is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 2, 2024. Judge Rhett M. Stuard will be overseeing all three women’s trials.
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