The parents of a 7-month-old baby who died Feb. 24, 2019, from Benadryl poisoning while under the care of an unlicensed babysitter at Aliamanu Military Reservation is suing the U.S. government and Island Palm Communities, the property management company for the military housing.

Anna and David Lobisch left their baby, Abigail, and their 2-year-old son with Dixie Denise Villa, a Navy sailor’s wife who allegedly operated an illegal day care center with as many as 17 children at a time at their home within the Army housing, and was previously caught running another one on a Navy base in Washington state.

The lawsuit details how whistleblowers provided video and audio evidence to the Army Garrison Command of unsupervised children playing with lighters in Villa’s backyard, a small child placing one in his mouth and children stuck in play equipment screaming. They called military police and Villa allegedly screamed after they left and made veiled threats on Facebook.

The complaint filed Wednesday in federal court alleges the government and Island Palm failed to report to Child Welfare Services the abuses going on with other children during the previous year before Abigail’s death, failed to warn parents, and failed to shut down the business and evict the Villas.

The complaint also alleges the defendants were aware Villa had a prior record of running an unauthorized child care facility at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. Her husband, Chief Petty Officer Aaron Villa, was told by a superior “to shut it down.”

The lawsuit does not name Dixie Villa, who is charged with manslaughter, a Class A felony, in First Circuit Court.

“The government and Island Palms Communities, although they were warned over and over and over again by assorted whistleblowers that Ms. Villa was exposing children to dangerous neglect and had far too many children in her home and was in fact an unauthorized illegal child care provider, permitted her child care establishment to continue to run,” Loretta Sheehan, the attorney for the Lobisch family, said Wednesday at a news video conference.

“Unfortunately, Baby Abigail paid the price, so we have filed this lawsuit because we don’t want this to happen again.”

Sheehan’s law firm, Davis Levin Livingston, filed a lawsuit in 2008 against the federal government in the 2005 death of 5-year-old Talia Williams, who was tortured and beaten by her father, a Schofield Barracks soldier, while living at Wheeler Army Airfield. Military police and a sergeant from Naeem Williams’ command saw the injuries but failed to report them to child welfare officials.

That lawsuit led to the enactment of Talia’s Law, requiring reporters and recipients of reports of abuse involving a child in the family or home of a military member to file a report with state child welfare services as soon as possible, regardless of where the incident occurred — on or off a military installation.

The law now includes any military members engaged in professions and activities for military members and their dependents as mandatory reporters of child abuse.

Neighbors reported seeing unsafe conditions at the Villa house, and despite calls to Island Palm beginning in December 2017 and to the Family Child Care Office at the Army Garrison Command, they continued to see parents dropping off children.

Sheehan said a town hall meeting was held shortly after the baby’s death where Army officials told residents two cease-and-desist orders had been issued, but “they were apparently ignored and no further action was taken.”

A U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii spokeswoman responded late Thursday afternoon to an earlier Hono­lulu Star-Advertiser request for comment by referring questions to Army Public Affairs in Washington, D.C. No response was received by press time.

Island Palm Communities did not return a request for comment.

The trial in the criminal case, put off due to the pandemic, is set for Nov. 30.

Dixie Villa was indicted Aug. 1, 2019, after an autopsy report showed the cause of death was Benadryl poisoning.

In November, she was released on $200,000 bail after a judge lowered the amount. She is under a no-contact order prohibiting her from contacting her husband, a witness in the criminal case.