A Jefferson City woman has been placed on probation for pleading guilty to an amended charge in a child abuse case.
Jessica Reeves, 34, pleaded guilty to second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor. She had been charged with felony abuse of a child.
Cole County Presiding Judge Pat Joyce placed Reeves on two years unsupervised probation and ordered her to complete 40 hours of community service and take and successfully complete a parenting class through the Prenger Center.
A witness contacted police in April 2017, saying she had a video recording of abuse to the child, who at the time was 1 year old, according to a Jefferson City Police Department probable cause statement.
The video was shot around Oct. 1, 2016, and showed Reeves, who had been hired to babysit the victim, doing the child's hair. When the child kept moving her head, Reeves slapped the child in the head then placed her hands on top of the child's head and shook it.
The child screamed and cried, and two other videos taken on different dates show Reeves causing mental and physical distress to the child.
When interviewed by authorities, Reeves admitted to hitting the child, saying the girl was probably 6 or 7 months old at the time the video was made.
Reeves also was questioned about how she cared for the child when she would cry. She said she held her hand over the child's mouth and blew air in her face, which she had seen other people do.
When asked about the use of a nasal device to remove mucus from the child's nose, Reeves said she had on one occasion placed the device down the child's throat to remove the mucus that way.
Reeves denied using her finger to encourage the child to eat, but a video recording shows Reeves sticking her finger in the child's mouth and spooning in baby food, after which the child gagged and coughed.