MANCHESTER, NH – The owner of a West Side unlicensed daycare center where the children’s food was laced with melatonin so they would sleep, was sentenced to community service after she pleaded guilty to reckless conduct and falsifying evidence.
Judge Amy Messer, presiding in Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District on Monday, initially rejected a plea agreement which called for Sally Dreckmann, 53, formerly of 315 Amory St. and now of Scranton, PA, to receive only suspended sentences.
“What kind of message does that send to the community that you can operate an unlicensed day care center and put melatonin on children’s food?” the judge asked the attorneys.
Dreckmann ran an unlicensed daycare center out of her Amory Street home, tending to 15 to 25 children daily, according to court records.
The children, employees told an investigator, would nap for two to three hours after eating, giving the workers a break.
The plea bargain provided a suspended sentence of 2 to 5 years on the reckless conduct charge, a class A misdemeanor with extended sentencing term, and 3 ½ to 7-years suspended on the falsifying physical evidence charge, a class B felony. The falsifying physical evidence charge alleged Dreckmann, believing the New Hampshire Licensing Board was about to be begin an investigation, destroyed or concealed paperwork kept in connection with her daycare operation.
The judge, after hearing from a mother of one of the children and after the victim/witness advocate read a letter from Krista Lake, another mother who had worked part-time for Dreckmann and who reported her to police, told First Assistant Attorney Shawn Sweeney and defense attorney Emily Peterson that she was not going to accept the negotiated plea. “There has to be another component to it,” the judge said.
Sweeney said factors leading to the negotiated plea was the question of whether prosecutors could prove that providing melatonin to children created a danger of possible severe bodily injury. He said prosecutors were unsuccessful in finding an expert who could conclusively say that administering melatonin in that age range was dangerous.
Peterson, in arguing for the suspended sentences, said Dreckmann is a mother and grandmother with no criminal record. She was born and raised in Manchester, where she has lived most of her adult life.
According to court records, Dreckmann worked as a crossing guard with the Traffic Division of the Manchester Police Department for 20 years. She also worked other odd jobs including driving a bus for children with disabilities for the Easter Seals program. She also took care of an elderly couple for three years.
Dreckmann also was involved in Little League, when her children were playing baseball. Initially, she was a volunteer “safety officer,” but later became president of the league, managing 19 teams and about 300 kids in Manchester. She held the position of president for 19 years. For the last six years of her presidency, she was also managing teams from Concord to Massachusetts.
“When Sally was charged in this case, she felt intense shame and embarrassment at the press coverage,” according to her mediation memorandum. “She sold her home in Manchester in 2024 and moved to Scranton, PA, where housing was more affordable.
In 2016, she began experiencing health issues and was hospitalized with pneumonia. She continued to struggle with shortness of breath and in 2021 was diagnosed with Mycobacterium Avium Complex (MAC), similar to tuberculosis and affecting individuals with pre-existing lung conditions. She was informed that life expectancy with MAC is about five years.
This year, she was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis, a condition of the lungs caused by scarring and thickening of the lung tissues. In March 2025, she suffered a heart attack. She is currently under the care of a pulmonologist and cardiologist in Pennsylvania.
After a break, the attorneys returned with the added component that Dreckmann had to perform 100 hours of community service within the next year with the original suspended sentences in place.
The sentences also require her not to have any unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18 and not engage in any employment that primarily provides services to those under the age of 18, including daycare.
“This explicitly includes operating any form of licensed or unlicensed childcare facility,” the judge said.
Dreckmann also is to reimburse the parents for medical costs they incurred, up to $2,500.
With the addition of the 100 hours of community service, the judge accepted Dreckmann’s guilty pleas and issued the sentence.
Addressing the mothers in the courtroom, Messer said it was important to note that Dreckmann will have a felony record – one that cannot be annulled.
Messer made it clear to Dreckmann, however, that what she did in running an unlicensed daycare center and giving children melatonin without informing their parents was a “highly egregious act.”
She also cautioned Dreckmann that if she violated any of the conditions she wouldn’t “hesitate” to impose the sentences, which are consecutive.
Melatonin is a hormone made in the brain that helps regulate the body’s sleep cycle. It also is sold over-the-counter as a supplement.
Dreckmann’s employees Traci Innie, 51, who is Dreckmann’s cousin, Kaitlin Filardo, 23, and Jessica Foster, 23, all of Manchester, also were charged in the case.
Police opened an investigation on Nov. 10, 2023, after receiving a call from Lake. In her letter read in court, she said she brought her children to Dreckmann’s daycare but told her after a couple of months that it was too expensive. Dreckmann, she said, then hired her to work for her.
Lake worked for two weeks, but then she saw Dreckmann putting “seasoning” on chicken nuggets. Later, she asked other employees what it was and was told it was melatonin.
Lake immediately quit, took her children and called police.
One mother, who addressed Judge Messer, said she considered Dreckmann more of a grandmother than caretaker. She said she provided breakfast and lunch for her child, along with snacks, wipes and diapers, which she appreciated as a single mother.
Her child, who was at the daycare for about a year from age 2 to 3, woke up every single night. The doctor advised her to give her child melatonin but she was hesitant to do that.
“I never knew he was already taking that,” she said.
She told Dreckmann how tired she was, that her child wasn’t sleeping through the night. Sally, she said, told her to give him some melatonin.
The day the incident was reported, the mother said when she picked up her child “he was a zombie that day.”
The woman said she thought she was going crazy and that she was a bad mom.
Dreckmann, she told the judge, should be held accountable for what she did and go to jail.