Baltimore County day care owner sentenced for shooting husband over sexual abuse allegations
BALTIMORE — A Baltimore County day care owner who shot her husband over sexual abuse allegations involving children in her care, was sentenced Friday to four years in prison in a DC court, according to court records.
She is also required to serve two years of supervised release.
Shanteari Weems pleaded guilty in December in D.C. court to assault and gun charges in connection with the July 21 shooting and an ensuing standoff with law enforcement at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in the District.
Her attorneys have argued that their client was acting in self-defense when she allegedly shot her husband during a confrontation inside a hotel room. Police said Shanteari Weems shot her husband and threatened to harm herself if they entered the room.
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Two guns, an informal will and a notebook detailing Weems' alleged plans to shoot her husband were among the items recovered as evidence in the investigation, according to court records.
Weems, a former corrections officer, is the registered owner of Lil Kidz Kastle Daycare Center, a child-care facility in Owings Mills. The facility is now entangled in a police investigation into allegations that at least three children who attended daycare there were molested.
James Weems, a retired Baltimore police officer, was hospitalized after the July 21 shooting with multiple gunshot wounds. He has since been discharged and remains in police custody while he awaits trial on multiple sexual abuse charges involving children at the day care.
Last August, Weems, who worked as a bus driver at the day care, was indicted on 21 counts related to the alleged abuse of two victims.
Weems is set to stand trial on those charges later this year.