South St. Paul day care owner, city council member won’t be charged for child’s alleged meth exposure

The Dakota County Attorney’s Office will not bring charges against Pam Bakken, the owner of a South St. Paul day care where a 3-year-old child allegedly ingested methamphetamine.

Bakken, who also serves on the South St. Paul City Council, has faced pressure to resign from public office, and a citizen group launched a recall campaign this month to force her ouster.

The child’s mother, Victoria Kane, told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the day care asked her to pick her son up back in December because he was displaying abnormal behaviors and threw up after eating lunch. At the hospital, the boy tested positive for amphetamine and methamphetamine.

The child later told his mother he ate something “gross” that resembled an “onion crumb” off the bathroom rug of the day care.

Prosecutors with the Dakota County Attorney’s Office reviewed the case after receiving a report from the Lakeville Police Department, which led the investigation due to conflict-of-interest concerns.

On Tuesday, Dakota County Attorney Kathy Keena said her office could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the child had ingested the substance while at Bakken’s day care.

“Even assuming the child ingested meth while at the day care, the state is unable to prove that Ms. Bakken knew it was present in her home and that she intentionally or recklessly allowed the child to be placed in a situation likely to harm the child’s health, or that she deprived the child necessary supervision appropriate to his age,” the attorney’s office said in a release.

In March, the Minnesota Department of Human Services suspended Bakken’s child care license indefinitely at the recommendation of Dakota County Community Services. Bakken has said she is appealing that decision.