A Virginia woman is headed to jail after prosecutors say she spent months abusing a toddler she had been trusted to babysit for a family that once considered her a close friend.
Twenty-one-year-old Carly Rae Webb faced a long list of charges after disturbing allegations surfaced about how she treated the young child while the girl’s parents were at work.
In October 2025, Webb pleaded guilty to five of the 17 charges filed against her. A judge later found her guilty on the remaining counts as well, although many of those charges were eventually dismissed during sentencing.
On Friday, a Bedford County judge sentenced Webb to one year in jail followed by three years of probation for a felony child abuse conviction and five misdemeanor assault charges. While the judge initially handed down a longer sentence, most of the time was suspended, leaving Webb with one year behind bars.
Despite the final sentence, the judge strongly criticized Webb’s actions in court, calling the case a shocking example of cruelty and neglect.
According to courtroom reports, the judge said that in more than four decades on the bench he had never seen a child abuse case with so much disturbing video evidence.
The child’s father told the court that the family only discovered the abuse because of cameras they had installed in their home.
“When I saw the videos, I couldn’t believe it,” he testified. “Thank God we had the cameras.”
The footage reportedly showed the toddler being left alone in a crib for as long as nine hours without food or water. Prosecutors said there were times the child went more than 20 hours without anything to eat or drink.
In one case, the toddler was put to bed around 8 p.m. and did not receive food or water until the next afternoon when her parents returned home from work.
Investigators say the abuse went far beyond neglect.
Surveillance footage reportedly showed Webb eating food in front of the hungry child, throwing away meals the parents had prepared, and physically mistreating the toddler.
Prosecutors said Webb was seen kicking and hitting the child, screaming insults at her, putting her inside a box, and even pretending to shoot her with a toy gun while the little girl cried.
The toddler was between 19 months and nearly 2 years old during the abuse.
During the sentencing hearing, Webb tearfully addressed the court and admitted she had failed the child.
“I totally failed her in that responsibility,” she said. “It was terrible. I was totally in the wrong.”
The child’s mother, however, told the court that her daughter showed more strength than the woman who was supposed to protect her.
“My baby girl was so much stronger than you,” she said directly to Webb.
Prosecutors said the abuse continued for months and that Webb actively tried to hide what she was doing so the parents would not discover it.
“That child went through hell day after day, week after week, month after month,” a prosecutor told the court.
The child’s father also spoke about the betrayal the family felt after trusting Webb with their daughter.
“No parent should ever have to see the things I saw,” he said.
Under the terms of her sentence, Webb must remain on good behavior for nine years to avoid additional prison time. She is also banned from contacting the child or her family and is prohibited from working in any role that involves caring for children.
Prosecutors said they were satisfied with the outcome and believed justice had been served.
“We are very pleased with the judge’s ruling and the sentence that was handed down,” a representative from the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office said after the hearing.
