Pa. day care owner charged in toddler’s heat death

PENNDEL, Pa. — The owner of a suburban Philadelphia day care has been charged in the death of a toddler left in a hot minivan for hours outside the center last month.

Bucks County authorities charged Rimma Shvartsman on Friday with involuntary manslaughter, endangering the welfare of a child and leaving a child unattended in a vehicle.

Authorities say Shvartsman drove her 2-year-old neighbor, Daniel Slutsky, to the Fairy Tales Daycare Center in Penndel on July 1 but left him in the van. They say she returned to the vehicle late that afternoon to find the boy unresponsive.

Shvartsman’s attorney called the boy’s death a tragedy and said no punishment the state could impose is harsher than the penalty his client is already paying.

The boy’s parents sued the center last month.