CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va -- A Chesterfield County preschool teacher was found guilty of five charges after prosecutors said she physically abused five special needs children at school on separate occasions.
Lisa Harbilas, a former teacher at Chester Early Childhood Learning Academy, initially faced 12 counts of assault and battery. But in a Chesterfield County courtroom on Tuesday, those charges were reduced to five counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor as part of an agreement between prosecutors and the defense.
Commonwealth's Attorney Barbara Cooke acknowledged to the judge that not all families were happy about the agreement. In fact, the agreement came as a shock to some.
“It was unexpected. I showed up today with the intentions of testifying and going through the process," the father of one of the victims, who wanted to remain anonymous to protect the identity of his child, told CBS 6.
Defense attorney Michelle Chiocca told the judge that Harbilas pled not guilty with stipulation to the evidence on the five new charges. That meant Harbilas did not admit guilt but acknowledged the Commonwealth's evidence could be sufficient to convict.
Though neither party called witnesses to the stand, they both described what witnesses would have testified.
Cooke said during one incident in July 2022, a witness saw Harbilas grab a three-year-old by the hair, pulling them into a chair, and placing her legs across the child for several minutes as the child cried.
Then during additional incidents in November 2022 involving four children, Cooke said a witness, Harbilas' teaching assistant, reported Harbilas spanked children, tugged their arms forcefully, and grabbed their necks.
Cooke added the witness saw Harbilas pull one child up a slide and slapped another child in the face which left a red mark.
Chiocca said Harbilas denied all allegations.
During the July incident, Chiocca said another witness was there and would have described a different scenario than the one described by Cooke's witness.
In the rest of the November incidents, Chiocca said the witness did not have appropriate training in dealing with children with special needs and that the witness was new to the classroom at the time. She added that any touching of students by Hariblas was to restrain them and protect them from harm.
Cooke presented what she considered a "compromise" of recommendations to the judge which included a definite "guilty" to the five new charges, a 12-month sentence on each charge with 12 months suspended, no contact with the victims or their families, an order to not teach again and to surrender her license.
Cooke said the goal was for Harbilas to "not step foot in a classroom again," and she explained that changing the charges from 'assault' to 'contributing to the delinquency of a minor' would make it clear on a criminal record that children were involved in the crimes.
Chiocca said Harbilas has already decided not to renew her license and has "no interest" in teaching again.
Judge Vanessa Jones found Harbilas guilty and accepted the terms of the agreement.
“I’m not angry with the outcome. I just wish that there was more," a parent told CBS 6 after the hearing.
The parent said his daughter was the victim of the July incident.
"We started to notice a change in [her] attitude. She wanted to get on the bus way less than normal. She would have night terrors," he said.
He said he noticed similar behavior again recently when he took his daughter to orientation for kindergarten.
"She didn't even want to walk down the hallway. She's terrified of school, of the new school, and it's because of this," he said.
The father said his biggest concern with the whole case was how the school handled the allegations.
He said he had "no clue" about the seriousness of the allegations until a police officer showed up at his door one day, many months after the fact.
“The school notified me that there was an incident and that nothing came from it and that they couldn't provide me with any of the information or any of the documentation about the matter," he said.
Court documents previously obtained by CBS 6 revealed that after the alleged assault in July, the school issued Harbilas a reprimand. A referral was made to Chesterfield Child Protective Services (CPS), but CPS never notified law enforcement about the allegation, police previously said.
The parent believed, had the July incident been taken more seriously, the additional alleged assaults in November could have been prevented.
“From my perspective, specifically my perspective, total failure. Just completely swept under the rug. Just treated as if it was just a laissez-faire incident as if it happened all the time," he said.
CBS 6 reached out to Chesterfield County Schools for a response to these concerns.
"At this time, we are not able to provide an additional comment," district spokesperson Shawn Smith responded.
The school district and school board members have declined to answer any questions surrounding their handling of the incidents.
Child Protective Services, which failed to report any of the alleged assaults in July and November to law enforcement, improved its policies and procedures for handling reports of alleged child abuse following CBS 6's investigative reporting into the issue.
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