Carly Rae Webb (Blue Ridge Regional Jail).
A Virginia woman will spend time behind bars over the months-long abuse of a toddler girl she was babysitting for a family who trusted her completely and considered her a close friend.
In October 2025, 21-year-old Carly Rae Webb, in an unusual turn of events, pleaded guilty to five out of 17 charges against her while the court additionally found her guilty on the remaining 12 charges. But most of those convictions were effectively in name only.
On Friday, she was sentenced by Bedford Circuit Court Judge James Updike Jr. to one year in jail followed by three years of probation for her culpability on a lone felony count of child abuse and five misdemeanor counts of assault. Formally, she was sentenced to five years on the felony count and a combined four years on the misdemeanor counts – but the judge assessed the sentences to run concurrently, or at the same time. And all but one year was suspended.
The court declined to sentence her on the remaining charges and ultimately decided to formally dismiss them this week.
Still, the judge previously excoriated the defendant for "a pattern of cruelty and neglect," according to a courtroom report by Roanoke-based CBS affiliate WDBJ. Updike said he had never, in 47 years on the bench, seen a child abuse case with so much damning video evidence.
"When I saw the videos, I couldn't believe it," the child's father said while testifying during the trial. "Thank God we had the cameras."
Surveillance footage showed the child being kept in a crib for up to nine hours – without food or water. In some instances, Webb can be seen throwing away the food and drink that the child's mother prepared for her. Prosecutors said the child would sometimes go without sustenance for upwards of 21 hours on end.
In at least one instance, the child was put to bed at 8 p.m. and – all while under Webb's care – did not receive food or drink until 4 p.m. the next day when the parents returned home from work.
The abuse was sometimes more direct.
While Webb is also seen eating in front of the starved child, other times the woman is seen kicking, hitting, and taunting her by calling her "an effing B," screaming in her face, placing her in a box, and pretending to shoot her with a toy gun while mocking her as the little girl cries, according to WDBJ and The News & Advance.
Before the judge handed down the sentence, Webb addressed the court in an allocution and cried, saying she is ashamed of what she did and that she understands the parents' rage toward her.
"I totally failed her in that responsibility," the defendant said of her duties as a babysitter. "It was terrible. I was totally in the wrong."
The child was between 19 months and nearly 2 years old, her mother testified, when she suffered the abuse meted out by the "monster."
"My baby girl was so much stronger than you," the girl's mother said, addressing Webb directly.
The defendant's attorney took issue with some of the language used during the hearing when addressing the court.
"She is not a monster," Chris Kowalzcuk said – explaining that his client was a self-absorbed teenager who did not want to be a babysitter at the time. "She is a human being."
Bedford County Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Stacey Stickney put a point on the abuse, saying Webb "put the baby through hell day after day, week after week, month after month."
The child's father echoed that assessment. He said he often thinks of Webb, the betrayal of trust "and the hell you put us through," adding that "no parent should ever have to see the things I saw."
During the hearing, it was also noted that Webb tricked the family and covered up her tracks so as to get away with the abuse for quite a long time. The timeline was a sticking point for the court.
"That is where I find the aggravation in this case," Updike said, citing the duration of the abuse for why he went beyond the sentencing guidelines – which only called for between one day and six months in jail. Technically, she faces 10 years behind bars when all is said and done. The suspension of the sentence, however, largely renders such considerations moot.
Under the terms of her sentence, Webb must maintain good behavior for nine years for her sentence to remain suspended. She is also prohibited from having any contact with the victim, the family, and cannot serve in any role as a caretaker for a minor.
"We have all left the courtroom feeling very pleased with the judge's ruling and the sentence that he handed down this afternoon to the defendant in this case," Stickney told Bluefield, West Virginia-based NBC and The CW affiliate WVVA. "From the very beginning, the Commonwealth's Attorney's office prosecuted this case very aggressively with both misdemeanor and felony charges."
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