Final suspect in unlicensed Colorado Springs daycare investigation sentenced to jail time

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The final daycare employee involved in the Play Mountain Place scandal is now serving jail time. Her sentence, however, was significantly less than the two other women involved in the investigation.

Katelynne Nelson is one of three women that faced charges after the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) found 25 children, between the ages of three and under, hidden behind a false wall in the basement of a daycare.

The daycare wasn't licensed to have that many children and had refused the state's unannounced inspection. This was when police performed a welfare check-in in 2019.

The owner, Carla Faith, faced 26 counts of child abuse, one count of attempting to influence a peace officer, and three counts of operating a daycare without a license. In October of 2021, she was sentenced to six years in prison.

Nelson pled guilty to 27 different charges of drug possession and child abuse. Unlike the other two women, she faced additional drug charges. According to CSPD, officers found three syringes and two plastic bags of meth in her backpack when the daycare was searched.

Nelson ran and wasn't arrested until February of 2022.

Nelson took a plea deal. She plead guilty to one count of possession of a controlled substance and 26 counts of child abuse. Nelson will serve exactly one year in jail.

Although she didn't show up for her trial and was also in possession of meth during the daycare raid, she'll serve less time because she took a plea deal.

After being released, she will be on supervised probation for four years.

Christina Sqauger, another employee, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.