A mother from Ohio has successfully evaded incarceration following the emergence of a viral video on social media that seemingly depicted her in a severe incident of child abuse, as indicated by court records from the Buckeye State.
On August 27, a 21-year-old named Haley Marie Ryan entered a guilty plea for a charge related to the endangerment of children, as documented by records from the Vandalia Municipal Court. On Tuesday, she received a five-year probation sentence.
The defendant will continue to be monitored by law enforcement for the foreseeable future and has received a sentence of 180 days in jail, with 90 days of that sentence suspended. Alongside that suspension, she received credit for the 35 days she was held in pretrial detention.
Ryan will serve a total of 55 days in jail, but his confinement will take place within the county’s facilities rather than those of the state.
Swift justice was delivered in a case that shocked southwestern Ohio — and gained significant attention online, particularly due to the viral video of the event.
The since-sentenced mom was arrested on Aug. 14, following “several” complaints and “notifications” about the video in question, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.
The sheriff’s office characterized the widely circulated online footage as a “troubling clip of a mother yelling at and striking her child.”
“Disturbing is the only word that probably is appropriate,” Chief Deputy Matt Haines told Dayton-based CBS affiliate WHIO.
Although the video was accessible during the arrest, it seems that most versions featuring the complete footage and audio have now been taken down from the internet.
The video was circulated and watched extensively across multiple social media platforms, including YouTube and TikTok, garnering thousands of views. The shares swiftly sparked a wave of community anger.
“It was one of those things that literally went viral for all the wrong reasons,” Haines told the TV station. “We started getting phone calls from as far away that I know of from at least Texas.”
It is important to highlight that there is currently no sealing order from the court, nor is there a protective order aimed at the victim, recorded on the public court docket for Ryan’s case.
A woman is captured in the video leaning over a crib. She lets out a piercing scream at the infant resting inside. Shortly after, the woman pulls back one of her arms and seems to strike at something within the crib — likely her baby boy — repeatedly.
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The footage is chaotic and indistinct, with the frame rate failing to capture the clarity of the woman’s rapid movements. The footage leaves it ambiguous regarding whether the woman actually makes contact with the child, or if any interaction occurs at all.
As the video concludes, the woman angrily departs, while the individual recording the incident seems to rise from a seated or crouched posture before approaching the child in the crib. Authorities report that the child of the father was the individual capturing the footage from behind the camera.
Authorities report that the infant captured in the video is under one year old. Ultimately, authorities disclosed that the infant was unharmed.
Following Ryan’s arrest, authorities indicated that more charges might be forthcoming. In the end, the young mother only confronted a single charge of child endangerment.
On August 15, Ryan entered a not-guilty plea, according to records from the Vandalia court. The following day, she was designated as a public defender and a pretrial hearing took place on August 21. Just a few days later, she acknowledged her legal responsibility for what the footage revealed.
On Tuesday, in addition to serving jail time and probation, she was instructed to refrain from any contact with the victim until various additional evaluations are completed. Ryan is required to participate in parenting classes and undergo “intense outpatient treatment” in the near future.