From: romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu!compuserve.com!73437.2541 (George Hero)
To:   Witchhunt 
Date: 01 Dec 94 22:02:48 EST

(c) 1994 Charlotte Observer. All rts. reserv.

07814095 RELEASE SET LATER THIS MONTH FOR FIGURE IN DAY-CARE SEX CASES
Charlotte
Observer (CO) - THURSDAY, November 10, 1994 By: The Associated Press Edition:
ONE  Section: METRO  Page: 2C Word Count: 406

MEMO: The  following  story  also  appeared  in  edition 3, page 4c and a
shorter version also ran in edition 4, page 24a.

TEXT: EDENTON  - Elizabeth T. Kelly will be a free woman Nov. 26 or earlier
after serving  11  months  in  prison  on a no-contest plea to child sexual
abuse charges, the  Parole Commission said Wednesday.

   Kelly,  39,  entered  the  prison  system  in  January after pleading no
contest  to  26 counts of taking indecent liberties with children at Little
Rascals Day Care Center and three other sex abuse counts. She was sentenced to
seven years in prison.
   Kelly  and  her  husband, Robert F. Kelly Jr., owned and operated Little
Rascals Day Care Center.

   Robert  Kelly  was  convicted  on  99  counts  of child sexual abuse and
sentenced  to  12  consecutive  terms. Former day-care cook Dawn Wilson was
sentenced to  life in prison. The convictions of both are being appealed.

   Another  defendant,  Willard  Scott  Privott,  an acquaintance of Robert
Kelly's,  pleaded no contest to sexual abuse charges in June and was placed on
probation.

   There  still are four defendants awaiting trial in the case, which began
when
Kelly was charged in 1989. His trial, the first in the case, began in August
1991 and ended in May 1992.

   Elizabeth  Kelly  was  eligible for release when she entered prison, and her
attorney,  Joe  Cheshire, argued that she shouldn't be incarcerated at all. But
she was taken to prison after Superior Court Judge Marsh McLelland sentenced
her to seven years.

   The  Parole  Commission  denied  her  release  after  hearings in April.
Supporters  argued  for early release and opponents argued that she stay in
prison. At that time, she became eligible for the November release date.

   ``It  is  important  for the public to understand that the commission no
longer  has  authority  to  keep  Mrs. Kelly incarcerated,' said commission
Chairman Juanita Baker.

   The  state's Fair Sentencing Act, the law under which she was sentenced,
requires  that  people  serving  felony  sentences longer than 18 months be
released  90  days  from their sentence expiration, said Tracy Herring, the
commission spokeswoman. Elizabeth Kelly's sentence expires Feb. 24, 1995.

   Other  factors contributing to the release date are good time, gain time and
merit  time. Automatic good-time credit cut the seven-year sentence in half and
gain-time credit was given for working in the prison.
   Kelly also received credit for the more than two years she spent in jail
before she raised bond money.

CAPTION: PHOTO

   Elizabeth Kelly DESCRIPTORS:  EDENTON, NC; PRISON; MAJOR STORY