What to Know
On May 20, 2025, a 3-year-old girl in Pennsylvania was found unconscious but breathing in her home after authorities were called there on reports of a fall she experienced. Upon arrival, the girlfriend of the little girl’s father, Alyssa Kithcart, told authorities that the girl fell after climbing on a coat rack. Per Law & Crime, doctors found the girl’s wounds, undernourishment, and full diaper to be an indicator of something more. Later, both Kithcart and the child’s father were arrested.
The father, Dalton Sweat, was accused of abusing his daughter habitually over time. The abuse is alleged to have included kicking her with a steel toe boot, using a belt to hit her, and putting her in “time out” for extended periods of time. After doctors declared that the 3-year-old had brain damage, which was irreversible and permanent, Kithcart was sentenced. Sweat faces serious charges of endangering the welfare of a child and aggravated assault.
The man admitted that he was “harsh” with punishments.
In court records obtained by Law & Crime, Sweat admitted to using “harsher punishments” with his daughter than he had previously admitted to authorities. He had at first followed the narrative of his daughter experiencing a fall. According to NorthCentralPA.com, police chief Carla Dieg and Children and Youth Services (CYS) reported that Kithcart said she should have reported her boyfriend sooner for his alleged abuse. It’s unclear how much, if at all, she participated in any of the reported abuse.
Per Kithcart, the 3-year-old was taken to the hospital in December 2024, months before the May 2026 incident, due to a reported fall down the stairs. Kithcart questioned to authorities if that was what happened, in light of Sweat’s charges and what happened to the child in late May. Other children in the home who were interviewed reported hearing Sweat abuse his daughter. One said, “Dalton is very scary at times.”
His girlfriend was sentenced to just a few months in prison.
As a result of the girl’s subsequent brain damage and reported injuries, Kithcart was sentenced to three months in a county jail in Pennsylvania. When she is released, she will have three years of probation, including five months with an ankle monitor. As of June 2026, Sweat has not yet been convicted or sentenced. His charges are much m ore severe, especially as the child’s parent.
Sweat is still being held in county jail on a $1 million bond. If convicted, his felony charges of endangering the welfare of a child and aggravated assault could have a much harsher punishment than Kithcart. A felony of endangering the welfare of a child can carry up to seven years in prison, according to Gambone Law in Pennsylvania. Because Sweat was accused of abusing his daughter prior to the incident that resulted in brain damage and she is under four years old, those details hold more weight in his possible conviction.
The 3-year-old suffered irreversible brain damage.
After the 3-year-old was taken to the hospital, a child safety specialist determined that her injuries were not in line with the alleged fall from a coat rack, as had been reported by Kithcart. An examination on the child further showed swelling on the side of her head, a broken clavicle, significant bruising on various parts of her body, and undernourishment. She was also in a diaper, which was reported to have been soiled at the time.
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