One of two women charged in a case of alleged abuse at a Sun Prairie day-care center pleaded guilty to lesser charges Wednesday and was placed in a first offenders program.

Lindsey A. Anderson, 21, of DeForest, who was charged for her involvement in incidents last year at Rock-a-Bye day-care center, pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of child neglect, for standing by as another staff member allegedly abused an 18-month-old girl.

Accepting the terms of a plea agreement, Dane County Circuit Judge Patrick Fiedler withheld convictions and allowed Anderson to enter a first offenders program through the District Attorney's Office.

The charges against her would be dismissed if she completes the program without committing any new crimes or breaking any rules set for her. They could also be expunged.

The alleged incidents were caught on videotape on Jan. 24, 2007. Co-defendant Sara Kladehall, 20, of Portage, allegedly applied her body weight to the girl and forced her face into a blanket. The girl stopped breathing, turned blue and had to be revived.

But the quality of the video recordings has been an issue that has slowed the pace of the case tremendously, Assistant District Attorney Shelly Rusch said in court Wednesday. Anderson and Kladehall were charged on Oct. 23, but Rusch said that when prosecutors looked at the video that police had used to charge the women, there were problems with it that have required help from an expert.

Rusch said the surveillance camera was not set up to shoot continuously, so expert help was needed to "time correct" the video, which has led to some re-interpretation of acts that are seen on the tape, Rusch said.

She said attorneys for both women have been kept apprised of the issue.

Kladehall is charged with three counts of child abuse and one count of first-degree reckless injury. Another felony charge, causing mental harm to a child, was dropped as a result of the issue with the video, Rusch said. Kladehall will next appear in court for a preliminary hearing, but no date has been set.

Rusch said that Anderson, who performed CPR on the girl, could testify against Kladehall, but said her testimony was not made a part of her plea agreement.