Background: A section of East Frederick Street in Athens, Pa. (Google Maps). Insets (from left to right): Alyssa Kithcart and Dalton Sweat (Bradford County District Attorney's Office).
A woman in Pennsylvania has learned her fate for not reporting her boyfriend's abuse of his 3-year-old daughter or getting the child medical help.
Alyssa Kithcart, 26, was sentenced to three months in prison followed by three years of probation after pleading guilty to endangering the welfare of a child, Bradford County court records reviewed by Law&Crime show. Other charges of endangering the welfare of a child and recklessly endangering another person were dismissed.
The defendant is in the Bradford County Correctional Facility along with her boyfriend, 27-year-old Dalton Sweat, whose case has yet to conclude. He faces charges including aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
To authorities, the case began on May 20, 2025, when paramedics and officers with the Athens Police Department were called to a home on the 100 block of East Frederick Street due to a report of a toddler hitting her head. Athens is located in the north of Pennsylvania on the border with New York.
First responders found the child on the floor of the home unconscious but breathing, with her eyes barely open, Athens Police Chief Carla Dieg told NorthcentralPA.com. The girl was "extremely thin" and it was "clearly visible that she had urinated and defecated in her diaper."
Authorities transferred the child to a hospital, and she was later airlifted to a separate medical center.
Sweat allegedly told police that he was headed to work when Kithcart called and said his daughter had fallen. Kithcart then told officers that the girl had climbed on a coat rack and fallen.
The doctors treating the child, however, reported that the girl's injuries did not track with a fall such as the one described. She had a broken collarbone, bruises across her body, and showed signs of extreme malnourishment.
Investigators continued prodding the couple and apparently got both of them to admit more than they did initially. Kithcart reportedly conceded that Sweat was "too harsh" with his punishments and said she "should have reported him sooner."
Family members described multiple past instances of abuse, including Sweat allegedly kicking the girl with steel-toed boots and causing her to hit a wall and suffer a bloody nose, per the local outlet. Other kids in the home reportedly added that Sweat hit her with a belt and would keep her in "time-out" for hours.
Sweat is said to have tried to place the blame on Kithcart, saying he was "afraid of Kithcart's family" before later admitting that he was "harsher than he had described earlier."
Medical personnel said that the 3-year-old will never fully recover due to injuries to her brain.
Sweat has a pretrial conference scheduled in his case for June 23.