A former daycare worker at First United Methodist Church in Hopkinsville is now facing 30 counts of first-degree criminal abuse of a child under 12-years of age.
Allison Simpson appeared in Christian Circuit Court for an arraignment Wednesday morning after a superseding indictment was filed December 6th that includes the additional charges. Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Boling advised Judge John Atkins that another co-defendant, 52-year old Nina Morgan, was also indicted on December 6th in connection to this case. She was arraigned on December 11th on two counts of first-degree criminal abuse of a child under 12-years of age.
Simpson’s defense attorney waived formal arraignment Wednesday and Judge Atkins set a pretrial conference for Wednesday morning, January 29, at 8:30. Two other co-defendants, former daycare director, Abby Leach, and former church pastor, Paige Williams, were set for a pre-trial conference Wednesday, but their hearing was continued until the same day as Simpson and Morgan’s next appearance in January.
According to the superseding indictment, Simpson is facing 11 counts of first-degree criminal abuse of a child under 12 years of age that involves one minor child. The incident allegedly occurred between December 19, 2018 and January 3, 2019 and the indictment states Simpson placed the child “in a situation that may cause serious physical injury, causing torture, cruel confinement or cruel punishment.” The other counts involve seven other children and allegedly occurred between December 21, 2018 and January 11, 2019.
Simpson was initially indicted by the Christian County Grand Jury on April 12 of two counts of first-degree wanton endangerment and second-degree criminal abuse. Those charges stemmed from an investigation in which Hopkinsville Police reported Simpson was captured on video subjecting an 8-month old and a 10-month old to cruel care and confinement on January 10, 2019 at the daycare at First United Methodist Church.
Williams and Leach were indicted by the grand jury in August 2019. Their indictments state the two women “intentionally breached their legal duty to protect at least seven children who were being cared for at the daycare”. The indictments also allege “their breach of legal duty placed the children in a situation that might cause serious physical injury, torture, cruel confinement or cruel punishment at the hands of Simpson”.
