Live-in nanny accused of injury to a child for allegedly encouraging drug use
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POCATELLO — A Pocatello woman faces multiple charges after allegedly encouraging a 13-year-old girl to smoke marijuana and possibly methamphetamine.
Wanda May Mansfield, 34, has been charged with injury to a child and possession of a controlled substance, both felonies.
Deputies from the Bannock County Sheriff’s Office received calls from Child Protective Services on April 2, according to an affidavit of probable cause. CPS told the deputies that Mansfield, who also goes by the name Wanda Kimball, was working as a live-in nanny and had allegedly been involved in troubling activities involving a 13-year-old girl in her care.
In speaking with the girl’s school principal, deputies were encouraged to contact social workers regarding the child.
Social workers found the accusations against Mansfield disturbing. Among them, that the girl was sharing a bed with the nanny due to bedbug issues, that she had used her father’s debit card to make online purchases of adult products without his approval, that Mansfield was encouraging her to use drugs, and she was also being taught to lie about and hide her drug use from her father.
Social workers told deputies they were concerned about whether the girl’s home was safe, according to the affidavit. They cited animal urine and feces in the home. The girl’s father recently underwent surgery and required the use of painkillers.
The father of the victim reached out to EastIdahoNews.com Tuesday and refuted some of the details found in court documents. He asserts the home has never had bed bugs, and they were training a new puppy, which caused the excrement. He also asserts he was the person who contacted authorities when he learned about some of Mansfield’s alleged actions. “I acted right away to defend my daughter,” he said.
In court documents, the victim admitted to carrying a blowtorch, she said was for s’mores, and drinking Mike’s Hard Lemonades, thinking they were just lemonades.
In a meeting with two social workers at her school, she said that the first time she smoked “weed” with her nanny was around Jan. 21. Since then, she said she had smoked with Mansfield four or five times. She described some of the “weed stuff” as being “weed crystals” that were foggy-white in color.
Asked to describe how she ingested the “weed crystals,” the girl described a glass “bong” that was lit from the bottom. Marijuana is most commonly lit from the top, and meth is normally lit from the bottom.
She also said that after smoking the “weed crystals,” she and Mansfield would stay up through the night.
Officers from the Pocatello Police Department were dispatched to the home of the family on April 7. While there, the victim’s father showed officers to the nanny’s room, explaining that Mansfield was in complete control of the room.
Granted access to search the room, officers allegedly found smoking devices and marijuana, along with an empty zip-top baggie they believed had once contained methamphetamine. They also found an empty pill bottle with no prescription information.
Mansfield was arrested and booked at Bannock County Jail. Officers are investigating potential sexual misconduct, and baggies found in Mansfield’s room have been sent to the Idaho State Police Forensics Laboratory for testing.
Mansfield is expected in court for a preliminary hearing on April 19.
If found guilty, she would face up to 17 years in prison and $65,000 in fines for the two felonies combined.
CLARIFICATION: The latest version of this article contains a statement from the victim’s father who refutes part of the police narrative.