BROWNSBURG, Ind. (WRTV) — A former Brownsburg daycare director will spend the next six months behind bars after admitting she failed to report suspected child abuse at Main Street University 4 Kidz.
Jennyfer Lingbeck pleaded guilty Monday to neglect of a dependent, a level 6 felony, and dailure to report, a misdemeanor.
The judge sentenced her to 6 months in the Indiana Department of Correction, followed by 1 year home detention, and another year of probation.
Lingbeck must also do 100 hours of community service.
“I do not make excuses,” Lingbeck told the court Monday. “I apologize to every family from the bottom of my heart for the pain that this situation has caused.”
Lingbeck admitted she failed to report suspected child abuse allegations involving then-employee Gabriel Garner.
Police say at least 8 children were victims of sexual abuse.
Prosecutors argued had Lingbeck acted sooner and reported it to police and/or the Indiana Department of Child Services, Lingbeck could have saved multiple children from abuse and trauma.
Lingbeck said in court that the childcare facility’s owner, Nancy Minton, trained her and that involved doing their own investigations.
The law requires every person in Indiana must report suspected abuse or neglect to Indiana DCS.
“I acknowledge that I should have known better,” said Lingbeck. “To assume those above me would follow the rules rather than bend them to fit their agenda, but ultimately the failure was mine. I will carry that forever.”
Lingbeck asked for no prison time because she has three young children at home.
“While I recognize there’s an impact on the defendant’s children in this case, I find it somewhat disingenuous to argue that given the amount of the children who have been harmed or children in this case,” said Judge Mark Smith right before handing down the sentence.
Parents of the victims did not want their faces shown, but several testified in court Monday.
“Her decisions caused this,” testified one father. “There is no version of this where Ms. Lingbeck did not know.”
“She knew better and did nothing,” testified another parent. “She failed to protect our daughter.”
Catherine Michael, an attorney for four victims’ families, said they are grateful Lingbeck was held accountable.
“Some of these three and four-year-olds had to have STD testing, and there have got to be consequences beyond that, and it also gives rise to what checks and balances are really in place for ensuring that these centers all have the necessary training and understand mandatory reporting,” said Michael.
Hendricks County prosecutor Loren Delp also reacted to the sentence.
“We ultimately would have liked to have seen more but we understand in these types of cases it’s a very difficult decision,” said Delp.“If you don’t have the backbone to speak up for children, then don’t become a daycare worker. It’s just that simple.This is a lesson to everybody out there that everybody who is an adult is a mandatory case reporter. You have to report child abuse when you suspect it.”
As part of Lingbeck’s sentence, she can’t work or volunteer at a childcare center nor can she work as a licensed childcare provider for the duration of her sentence.
Nancy Minton, the former owner of Main Street University 4 Kidz, was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to neglect of a dependent, a low-level felony, and failure to report, a misdemeanor.
Minton owned Main Street University 4 Kidz from 2011 until the facility closed in May 2025 amid a child abuse investigation in which Brownsburg police identified eight victims.
Hendricks County Judge Mark Smith sentenced Minton to two years in a state prison.
After a year, she can apply for home detention, followed by a year of probation. She can’t operate a childcare or apply for a childcare license.
The case against Gabriel Garner is still pending and no jury trial is currently scheduled.
