LOGAN — A 22-year-old Smithfield woman has been arrested for allegedly physically abusing a toddler at a Logan home daycare, April 24. Kyah Marie Duncombe was booked Wednesday into the Cache County Jail.
According to an arrest affidavit, Logan City Police officers began investigating Duncombe after a twenty-month-old child was taken to a medical center and diagnosed with a fractured left arm. The child’s mother explained how the boy was fine when she had dropped them off at the daycare center earlier in the day.
Police interviewed employees at the daycare center. They described seeing Duncombe pick up the victim by his arm. She appeared to be frustrated, jerking the arm of the alleged victim, lifting him off the ground and moving him.
Officers later interviewed Duncombe. She at first claimed to move the child by picking him up by the ribcage. She later acknowledged to experiencing anxiety at the time and actually picking up the boy by the arm. She explained how “she had a diagnosed mental condition that may have contributed to the outcome that day,” the probable cause statement detailed.
Duncombe was arraigned during a virtual hearing Friday morning in 1st District Court, appearing by web conference from jail. She was charged with one count of aggravated child abuse, a third-degree felony.
Judge Spencer Walsh assigned Duncombe a public defender and set bail at $5,000. He prohibited her from working at a daycare and having any contact with minors.
Jail records show Duncombe was released on bail Friday afternoon. She is scheduled to appear again in court June 5 and could face up to five years in prison, if convicted.
Individuals arrested and charged in complaints are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
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