28 February 2023- A Shippensburg babysitter and another man are looking at multiple felonies after three kids in their care come home with welts on them. Kellsey Nicole Koller and Trent Austin Beam are both charged with three felony counts of child endangerment and three misdemeanor counts of simple assault. Both Koller and Beam are free on an unsecured bail of $5,000.
On Tuesday, August 27th of 2019, Shippensburg PD were called to a home in the Borough for a possible child who had been abused by a babysitter. Officers talked to the child’s mother, who showed police red marks that looked like bruises or welts on both of the child’s inner thigh and lower legs. The marks looked as if they had been struck with some kind of object. The victim’s mother allegedly said she dropped both of her children off to their babysitter, Kelsey Koller on East Garfield Street in the borough around 8am that same day. The mother then received a call from Koller allegedly requesting to keep both kids longer that day because she wanted to take them to the park and get them something to eat. After agreeing, the kids were dropped off later in the day around 8pm. At first, the mother allegedly didn’t notice any problems but when she went to change the child’s pull-up she allegedly found the marks. Her other child, who had also been with Koller, allegedly had the same marks. Police were then called and alerted, as well as telling them that Koller had another child in her care until around 11pm that night.
Police were able to speak to Trent Beam at Koller’s home, with Beam then becoming a codefendant. While in the living room of Koller’s home, police saw another child asleep on the couch. Koller allegedly told the police she had been babysitting the two earlier victims as well as the other child on her couch. When asked about the kids, she allegedly said that she never had to punish them for anything. Any scrapes or scratches were from them playing in the backyard. When asked if either of them fell that day, Koller allegedly answered “you know how boys are”.
When the sleeping child’s mother arrived, police allegedly talked to her as to why they were there. Checking her child for injury when she got there, the victim’s mother allegedly found bruises similar to the ones found on the two other victims.
The next day, the two initial victims were examined by a Child Abuse Pediatrician, with the third victim transported to the hospital the same day. According to the CA doctor, “these bruises are highly indicative of this child being struck with objects of differing size and patterning.”
It should be noted that according to the criminal complaint filed against Koller and Beam, the defendant did “either accomplice or liability caused physical injuries to three children under the age of 12”. Additionally, the physical injuries of the children resulted “while in the care of the defendant and the codefendant”.
Beam and Koller are free on an unsecured bail of $5,000 each. Their preliminary hearings are set for March 15th.
Sources: Docket Number: MJ-09301-CR-0000043-2023, Docket Number: MJ-09301-CR-0000044-2023, Incident Number: SP-2019-4142
