U.S. Attorney Susan T. Lehr | U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney Susan Lehr announced that Danielle Cleary, a 29-year-old from Vermont who recently resided in Pender, Nebraska on the Omaha Nation Indian Reservation, was sentenced on December 19, 2024. The sentencing took place in federal court in Omaha, Nebraska for charges of child abuse. United States District Judge Brian C. Buescher sentenced Cleary to 33 months of imprisonment. In the federal system, there is no parole. Following her release from prison, Cleary will serve a one-year term of supervised release.
The incident occurred on January 11, 2023, when Cleary struck a three-year-old child in the head with a large toy. This caused severe head trauma to the child. The victim was airlifted from Pender's hospital to Children's Nebraska in Omaha for treatment of life-threatening injuries. Fortunately, the child recovered and was discharged from the hospital after a month.
Initially denying responsibility for the child's injury, Cleary later admitted to striking the child and pleaded guilty to negligent child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury.
Federal jurisdiction applied to this case because the victim was Native American and Cleary is not an Indian; additionally, the offense took place on a Native American Reservation.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation into this case.
