Trying to find reliable child care is the plight of an overwhelming number of parents. And I’m not just talking about a date night or other occasional sitting needs. Finding consistent, everyday child care is a constant headache. So when you find someone you know and trust to care for your child, it feels like winning the lottery. But what do you do when you find out that person is abusing your defenseless child? A Virginia family was shocked to learn that their babysitter, Carly Webb, was abusing and neglecting their child. What’s more horrifying is all of it was caught on video in their home.
The babysitter faced felony and misdemeanor charges.
On March 13, 2026, Webb was sentenced to serve 12 months in jail and three years of probation in connection with the case, WDBJ reported.
Webb was sentenced to one count of felony child abuse by the judge, which carried a term of five years. Four of those years will be suspended. Additionally, she was sentenced to five misdemeanors of assault and battery. That time will run concurrently to the felony sentence. In total, Carly Webb was sentenced to nine years behind bars but will only serve one.
During sentencing, Webb addressed the court, and both parents gave victim impact statements.
She pleaded guilty to five of the 17 charges against her, but she was found guilty of all 17 in October 2025.
The toddler’s family had no reason to suspect their child was being abused.
Webb was hired by the family to babysit the toddler because she was a close family friend, WKRC reported. Because of this, the parents completely trusted her with their child. She cared for the toddler, who wasn’t even 2 years old at the time, between October 2023 and January 2024.
The parents had no idea Webb was intentionally neglecting and abusing their child until she made an offhand comment. Concerned, the parents reviewed their home security footage, which revealed what their child had been enduring at the hands of the babysitter.
Everything Webb had done was recorded on video.
“When I saw the videos, I couldn’t believe it,” the child’s father Tyler testified in court, according to WDBJ. “Thank God we had the cameras.”
Bedford County Investigator Michelle Alderson testified in court that she had watched all of the disturbing footage. Over the hours of footage, she saw Webb mistreat the toddler, deprive her of food and attention, and even physically assault her.
Sometimes, the toddler would go up to 21 hours without food and water. Some days, the child would be put to bed around 8 p.m. Webb would arrive to babysit after 6 a.m. the next day, and the child wouldn’t eat until her parents returned from work around 4 p.m., WDBJ reported. There were also times the toddler wasn’t taken out of her crib for nine hours.
Video footage showed Webb throwing out food left for the toddler by her mother but then eating in front of the child.
Other times, Webb could be seen hitting, kicking, and taunting the child. There was one instance in which Webb called the toddler “an effing b” and pretended to shoot her with a toy gun while she cried, per WKRC.
Webb’s defense team argued her abuse of the toddler was “mild in comparison” because it resulted in no visible injuries and the girl was never hospitalized for malnutrition. The prosecution, however, argued that it was no less horrific.
Bedford County Judge James Updike told the court that he had never seen so much abuse caught on video in his 47 years on the bench. He called what Webb did “a pattern of cruelty and neglect.”
If you suspect child abuse, you can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (1-800-4-A-Child) or go to Childhelp.org. The hotline is available 24/7.
