Left: Michelle Holte (Hennepin County Court); Right: Nolan Sapp (GoFundMe)
A Minnesota woman and former day care operator will be spending the next several years behind bars over traumatic injuries that left a 6-month-old baby in a coma.
Michelle Maree Holte, 59, pleaded guilty to one count of assault in the first degree in October 2023.
On Friday, Hennepin County Judge Jay M. Quam sentenced the defendant to 91 months in prison – just over seven-and-a-half years – over the incident that required the removal of Nolan Sapp’s skull.
Content warning: child abuse
“What she did was about as close to a murder as we could see,” Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Dan Allard said during a lengthy sentencing hearing, according to a courtroom report by Saint Paul-based ABC affiliate KSTP. “I’m honestly stunned that Nolan survived.”
On Oct. 18, 2023, Nolan’s parents picked him up from Holte’s day care in Champlin – a medium-sized city some 20 miles north of Minneapolis – and discovered something horribly amiss with his eyes.
The boy’s eyes were at first turned to the left. Then, during the ride home, Nolan kept his eyes closed. Back at home, the distraught parents found their son’s “eyes were bouncing while still veering left” had flexed limbs that “did not feel normal,” and could not turn his head, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the TV station.
The Sapps rushed their child to a nearby hospital.
According to court records obtained by the outlet, the skull removal procedure was performed in order to relieve extreme swelling on the child’s brain. After arriving at the hospital, Nolan went into a medically-induced coma – in order to deal with injuries including a subdural hemorrhage, severe brain injury and retinal hemorrhages.
Court records indicate the boy’s injuries will likely have long-term medical consequences.
“This is every parent’s worst nightmare, and has been the absolute worst seven months of our lives,” Nolan’s mother, Lisa Sapp, said at the hearing, in comments reported by the TV station.
Holte allegedly dissembled when Nolan’s mother followed up to ask what had happened – saying another child had picked up and the dropped the baby. Investigators later spoke with another child at the defendant’s day care and said the woman was “rough” with the infant.
Investigators also asked the older child to demonstrate what they saw Holte do to Nolan by using a baby doll. The child “took the doll to eye level and dropped the doll on the table in front of her.”
“The mechanism of injury, of a forceful slamming, reported by the daycare provider, could explain [Victim’s] presentation with subdural hemorrhage, severe brain injury, and retinal hemorrhages,” the boy’s doctor wrote in a document obtained by KSTP. “It is notable that he was reported to have been symptomatic immediately afterwards, which is also consistent with a severe traumatic event.”
Faced with the truth, Holte would eventually admit to putting Nolan down “a little harder than normal” and tried to explain her behavior by telling police she was feeling “overwhelmed and frustrated” and had reached “a breaking point, in a bad way.”
During her sentencing hearing, she offered contrition.
“I want to express my deepest remorse and sincere apologies,” the defendant said.
The court, in issuing the sentence, said the boy’s horrible treatment did not appear to be malicious – and apologized to the family.
“I can’t give you justice,” Quam said. “Justice is somehow rewinding this and preventing it from happening.”
A GoFundMe was established to help with medical expenses.
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