Caregiver Who Tied Up Toddler Sentenced

An Irvine caregiver who admitted she tied a 2-year-old girl to a highchair and left her for hours in a dark closet was sentenced Tuesday to four years’ probation and 1,200 hours of community service.

Harbans Ahuja, 45, former operator of Harbans Family Childcare, was also ordered to give up her day-care license. She still faces a lawsuit that was filed on behalf of the Anaheim toddler and her mother a week after the July 21 incident.

Ahuja is relieved that the criminal matter has been resolved but is still apprehensive about the civil suit, her lawyers said. “I just think it’s pretty clear that she is a nice woman, that she loved what she was doing,” said attorney Creighton Laz. “She made a mistake, and she admitted the mistake, and she’s accepting responsibility for it.”

Ahuja had faced a possible prison sentence of up to seven years and six months, but Deputy Dist. Atty. Renee Lewis said she was pleased at what the judge offered her for the guilty plea.

“I think that it’s good that she’ll never have children in her care again,” Lewis said.

Ahuja had been operating the business out of her Irvine home since 1998, and in Garden Grove for the previous three years. She took care of 11 children at a time.