State contract worker charged in death of Alabama toddler in foster care who was left in hot car

An Alabama contract worker was arrested and criminally charged in connection to the death of a toddler who was left for hours inside a hot car, prosecutors said Friday.

Kela Stanford, 54, is accused of one count of leaving a child or an incapacitated person unattended in a motor vehicle resulting in serious physical injury, according to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office.

If convicted, Stanford could face between two and 20 years in prison.

“This is a terrible tragedy that was completely avoidable and unnecessary,” according to a statement. from the DA.

Ke’Terrious Starkes Jr., a 3-year-old from Bessemer, was pronounced dead July 22 after he was found in a car in the 1500 block of Pine Tree Drive in Birmingham, city police said.

Ke’Terrious was in the foster care system and had been picked up from day care by a contract employee of the state Department of Human Resources for a scheduled visit with his father, officials said.

After that visit, Ke’Terrious was supposed to be driven back to day care but ended up at the suspect’s home and left inside the car, police said.

Police have told the boy’s family that he was in that car for five hours, the child’s aunt Brittney Debruce said this week.

Stanford had regularly driven the boy to and from scheduled, supervised visits, so there should have been no confusion, according to Debruce.

It wasn’t immediately clear Friday afternoon if Stanford had hired a defense lawyer to speak on her behalf.

She was booked into custody Friday morning before posting a $30,000 bond for release, jail records showed. Stanford did not immediately return a message left on her publicly listed phone number Friday afternoon.