The Del Mar real estate agent who admitted to pinching and scratching babies to the point of bleeding in 2009 was sentenced to up to two years in prison on Tuesday.
Lisa Hench, 45, cried in the courtroom as the sentence was announced. She pleaded guilty last December to eight misdemeanor counts of corporal injury to a child. All eight incidents were committed in 2009 on babies whose ages ranged from 3 to 19 months.
Hench, a mother of two boys and a girl, is expected to spend one year of the sentence in prison. She will also face four years of probation once released.
"I can’t imagine being in your shoes," Hench said after turning to address the families. "And I’m sorry I’ve been the cause of it."
The judge repeatedly called her acts "predatory" in nature. All eight attacks took place over a span of multiple months at different locations, among them a jogathon and grocery store.
Lainie Carswell and Gene Carswell both spoke at the sentencing. The husband and wife said Hench has shown no remorse for injuring their daughter, who was 7 months old at the time. They claimed Hench violated a restraining order three times and once threateningly mouthed to Lainie she would "take her down."
Kelly Frederick also spoke. She said that less than hour before the Carswell incident, Hench victimized her son Charlie, who was 17 months old at the time.
Frederick said Hench massaged Charlie's ears at a jogathon in front of her. Her attention was briefly diverted before hearing her son scream. Frederick saw his ears were red, and it took about 10 minutes to calm him down.
When putting Charlie in his car seat, Frederick saw Charlie had three bloodied scratches behind one ear and two behind another, including a gouge with a piece of skin missing.
Kelly Frederick said afterward she was happy about the sentence and hoped Hench received the help she needs. She added she is unwilling to let strangers come close to her children again.
