California pleads guilty in infant’s suffocation death

BANNING, Calif. (AP) – A Southern California woman has pleaded guilty to the death of an infant who suffocated in a beanbag chair at her unlicensed day care center.

Denise Worman entered an involuntary manslaughter plea Thursday. She’ll be sentenced to 180 days in a work release program.

Investigators say two years ago, Worman was caring for 7-month-old Addison Watkins and her 3-year-old brother at her home in Hemet.

A report cited by the Riverside Press-Enterprise says Worman put them on a beanbag chair and walked away. She returned a half-hour later to find the infant face down in the chair with her brother on top of her.

During sentencing in a Banning courtroom, Worman apologized to the family after the girl’s mother, Kristin Watkins, told Worman that her negligence had ruined her life.