Babysitter who abandoned six-month-old in stranger's truck sentenced to 60 days in jail, probation

Sep. 17—KENNEBEC — A Rapid City woman who left a baby in the box of a stranger's truck in Presho on a hot June day was sentenced Thursday to 60 days in jail and 12 years of probation.

Corisa Bush, 31, of Rapid City, was originally charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, child abuse and three other drug-related charges for an incident at a campground.

In June, Bush was babysitting for a friend at a hotel in Presho when she began feeling paranoid. She took the baby from a temperature-controlled room to a campground across the street and left the baby in the box of a stranger's pickup truck.

Bush told police she believed the mother — who is alleged to have been on drugs at the time — would be able to find the baby.

After the truck's owner alerted authorities, police recovered the baby at the campground. The responding officer wrote in an affidavit that the baby was "non-verbal but alert, and her hair was slick with sweat."

Temperatures that day reached over 100 degrees. It is unknown how long the baby was unattended.

Bush originally entered no plea to attempted murder and drug paraphernalia charges, and pleaded not guilty to the other four charges in June.

After some charges were recharged by complaint, Bush's attorney submitted a plea agreement on Aug. 5, seeking that the state will dismiss "all remaining charges" in exchange for a guilty plea to child abuse.

Prosecutors accepted the agreement.

A Lyman County judge sentenced Bush to 12 years in the penitentiary, 12 years of probation and a $2,000 fine. The judge suspended 11 years and 305 days of Bush's prison sentence, on the condition that she follows the rules of her probation.

The maximum sentence Bush faced was 15 years in prison, a $30,000 fine or both.

The baby's mother, Chanice Clough, who was 21 at the time, faces charges for drug ingestion and contributing to child abuse. She pleaded not guilty to both charges.

Clough also has two separate criminal cases pending in Pennington County for drug charges, DUI and failure to stop after an accident with an unattended vehicle.

Clough currently has a bench warrant for failure to appear in Lyman County. Her next appearance is scheduled for Oct. 7.