A California woman who operated a home daycare has been sentenced to prison after admitting she was too intoxicated to notice when a baby in her care stopped breathing.
Roxanne Helus, 49, received the six-year term on Monday after pleading guilty in June to child abuse, endangerment, involuntary manslaughter and DUI. The charges stemmed from the October 2025 death of five-month-old Christian Olvera.
Prosecutors said Helus began drinking at 4 a.m. on October 22 and had a blood-alcohol level of 0.29 percent while driving two children to school. She later had more than $100 worth of alcohol delivered to her home in Manteca while watching six children, including the victim.
Helus took Christian to an unauthorized travel trailer on the property and continued drinking. When the baby suffered a medical emergency, she was too intoxicated to respond. The infant was later taken off life support and died of an anoxic brain injury.
At the sentencing hearing, Christian’s mother, Christina Olvera, told Helus she would never forgive her. The judge also ordered Helus to pay more than $16,000 in restitution and barred her from any future child-care work.