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).
In Pennsylvania, a woman has been sentenced for failing to take action against her boyfriend’s abuse of his young daughter. Alyssa Kithcart, aged 26, will serve three months in prison and subsequently three years of probation, after admitting to endangering the welfare of a child. According to Bradford County court documents accessed by Law&Crime, additional charges against her, such as another count of child endangerment and reckless endangerment, were dropped.
Kithcart is currently held at the Bradford County Correctional Facility, sharing her incarceration with her boyfriend, Dalton Sweat. The 27-year-old is yet to face trial, with charges looming over him including aggravated assault and child endangerment.
The distressing case came to light on May 20, 2025, when emergency responders and Athens Police Department officers were dispatched to a residence on East Frederick Street. This location, in Athens, Pennsylvania, lies close to the New York border. The call was made following a report of a toddler suffering a head injury.
Upon arrival, first responders discovered the young girl unconscious on the floor. While she was still breathing, her eyes were barely open. Athens Police Chief Carla Dieg described the child’s condition to NorthcentralPA.com, noting that she appeared “extremely thin,” and it was evident that she had soiled her diaper.
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.