Baby died at illegal day care tolerated by state; workers criminally charged

An infant boy remembered for his bright blue eyes died at a Hood River day care that state regulators allowed to operate illegally for months.

A child care regulator, a day care operator with whom she was friends and two other women were quietly indicted last month on criminal charges arising from the May 15 death of Cyrus Macioroski.

Exactly how the baby died has not been made public, but the indictments say day care operator Rochelle R. Jones and the other two women left Cyrus, then 4 months old, unattended for "a period of time that was likely to endanger (his) health and welfare."

The Oregon Office of Child Care had revoked the license of Mama Shell's Day Care in April 2017. A criminal indictment alleges that child care licensing compliance specialist Julie A. Smith helped Jones, whom it calls her friend, maintain the business after it was shut down.

Read more: https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2018/10/hood_river_day_care_providers.html