A Milwaukee woman who took off in a running daycare van with four young children still inside has been sentenced to probation rather than prison time, closing out a case that began with a frantic 911 call last December. Katelyn Librizzi, 28, pleaded guilty in July to taking and driving a vehicle without consent, and a judge stayed a 12-month sentence at the Milwaukee County Community Reintegration Center in favor of 18 months of probation.
The incident unfolded near Appleton Avenue and West Burleigh Street, where, according to a criminal complaint relayed by CBS 58, the daycare van driver had stepped outside the running vehicle to spread salt on an icy sidewalk when Librizzi jumped into the driver's seat and drove off with the children still inside. As reported by FOX6 News Milwaukee, the daycare owner called 911 from the daycare after the van was taken, and her personal cellphone happened to be inside the vehicle at the time.
Cellphone Tracking Led Police to the Van
That cellphone became the key to finding the children. Investigators used the daycare owner's phone to pull geolocation data that showed the stolen van's path, according to the same outlet's report, and a Milwaukee police detective had already responded to what was treated as an abduction investigation near Appleton and Burleigh on December 16. Milwaukee police then conducted a high-risk traffic stop and arrested Librizzi.
Per court filings, Librizzi told police the van had been running in front of the daycare, and that she had been driving when she saw little kids in the back of the vehicle. Officers recovered medical documents listed to Librizzi inside the van, per the criminal complaint, and a detective reported that she made unusual statements and comments during her interview. According to the complaint, Librizzi also indicated she had mental health issues.
Mother Says She Sought Help Before the Incident
The case carries a difficult backstory. Christy Librizzi, the suspect's mother, told WISN 12 News in December that she had repeatedly asked Milwaukee police in the days before the incident to commit her daughter to a mental health facility, saying her daughter's condition had rapidly deteriorated. Wisconsin's emergency civil commitment process requires evidence that a person poses an imminent threat to themselves or others before authorities can intervene, a threshold that can complicate efforts by families trying to get help before a crisis escalates.
Librizzi was initially charged in December 2025 with both taking and driving a vehicle without consent and abduction of a child. At her first Milwaukee County court appearance on December 21, a court commissioner set cash bail at $10,000 and ordered a formal mental health competency examination, a step reported at the time by FOX6 News Milwaukee. The competency evaluation was meant to determine whether she could legally understand the proceedings against her and assist in her own defense.
Abduction Charge Dropped, Felony Theft Resolved With Plea
By July, Librizzi pleaded guilty to the vehicle theft charge alone; the child abduction count was dismissed but read in for sentencing purposes, according to FOX6 News Milwaukee's reporting drawn from Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office and Wisconsin circuit court records. Under Wisconsin Statute § 943.23(2), taking and driving a motor vehicle without consent is a Class H felony that can carry up to six years in prison and fines as high as $10,000, according to the Van Severen Law Office. State law also allows that charge to be reduced to a misdemeanor if a defendant proves the vehicle was abandoned undamaged within 24 hours, per FindLaw's summary of Wisconsin Statute § 943.23(3m); the van in this case was recovered shortly after the stop.
Separately, Wisconsin law imposes direct criminal liability on childcare staff who leave children unattended in service vehicles. Wisconsin Statute § 948.53 makes it a crime for anyone responsible for a child's welfare in a childcare vehicle to leave that child unattended, punishable as a Class A misdemeanor or, if death or severe injury results, up to a Class G felony. State administrative rules go further for licensed group childcare centers: Rule DCF 251.08 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code bars leaving children unattended in a vehicle entirely and requires childcare transport vans to carry child safety alarms that prompt drivers to check every seat before exiting.
Restitution Hearing Still to Come
A restitution hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, August 18. Wisconsin Statute § 943.23(6) gives sentencing judges explicit authority to order restitution for financial losses tied to vehicle theft and to schedule valuation hearings regardless of whether the offender receives probation, meaning the daycare or its owner could still seek compensation tied to the incident.
The case adds to a string of local incidents involving stolen vehicles carrying vulnerable occupants, including a stolen daycare van in Perry that disrupted summer programming for dozens of kids, and a Lincoln Park grooming van taken with dogs still inside. Even so, auto theft broadly has been trending downward: Milwaukee Police Department data released in April showed auto thefts in the city fell 19% in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the same period the year before, dropping from 1,277 to 1,040 reported incidents. Nationally, the National Insurance Crime Bureau reported in March that U.S. vehicle thefts fell 23% in 2025 compared to 2024, following a 17% drop the year before, a historic decline attributed to coordinated law enforcement efforts and improved vehicle security technology.
