BILLINGS — A Shepherd woman who authorities say ran an unlicensed daycare out of a residence has been charged with assaulting one child and endangering two other children.
Lillian Schoer, 35, has been charged in Yellowstone County District Court with one felony count of assault on a minor and two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of children.
According to charging documents, the allegations surfaced last October when the parents of a child born in 2021 reported they had discovered a welt the size of an adult hand on their child's upper left leg near her buttocks.
The mother said she had picked up their daughter earlier that day from the daycare and found her child "screaming at the top of her lungs" while "tilted over (Schoer's) knee with (her) head hanging down" wearing a diaper but no pants.
The parents said they discovered the welt while bathing their child later that evening.
When shown a photograph of the injury taken by the child's father, Schoer denied causing the injury and said another child must have caused the mark, court records state. The couple said they no longer took their child to the daycare after the incident.
The Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office investigated the complaint and learned other children "were reported to have sustained suspicious injuries and markings while attending daycare at (Schoer's) residence," court documents state.
The misdemeanor charges allege that while under Schoer's care, one young child suffered a fractured elbow, and a 7-week-old infant suffered extensive bruising on his stomach and leg.
