Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich announces the indictment of a caretaker who abused a mentally disabled 16-year-old girl and then destroyed evidence.

Kittie Sanders, 57, of Springfield Township, was indicted on charges of patient endangerment, failure to care for a functionally impaired person, failure to report abuse, felonious assault, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence and obstruction of justice.

The abuse took place from December of 2022 to January of 2023. Sanders was previously indicted, but the case was dismissed.

Sanders was a paid caregiver for the teenager, who is severely disabled and non-verbal. The care was to be in the teenager’s home, but her mother allowed Sanders to take the teenager to Sanders’ home and other places.

The teenager returned home without her pants and with marks on her legs. This concerned the teenager’s mother. But Sanders explained it was a rash, bug bites and possibly shingles. When the teenager’s mother saw a television news story involving burns, she suspected that’s what the marks were and called police. A medical checkup revealed the marks were indeed burns.

“It is hard to fathom how somebody could abuse another person in this way, let alone an incapacitated teenager they were responsible for caring for,” Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich said. “We will seek a lengthy prison term so this never happens again.”

Sanders faces up to 25 and a half years in prison