Two women employees have been arrested after they allegedly abused toddlers under their supervision at a daycare in South Dakota.
Kenedi Wendt, 22, and Teresa Gallagher, 31, were arrested on Friday, March 30. The former daycare employees were charged with 25 counts of cruelty or abuse to a minor. Both women were also held on a $25,000 cash bond.
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Authorities first learned about the mistreatment in late February, when one of the children told his mom that a daycare employee at the Little Blessings Learning Center in Sioux Falls banged his head on a mat during nap time.
The mom immediately contacted the Department of Social Services, and DSS soon connected with the daycare’s supervisors to start an investigation within the facility.
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Wendt and Gallagher got fired after what the supervisors and police saw from the surveillance footage for February 14 and 23.
The footage revealed that the two women had been abusing toddlers in their care during nap time. The children were only three to four years old. According to police, those two employees were picking them up and slamming their bodies on the ground. The video also showed that they stepped on the kids and banged their heads many times.
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Although the incident didn’t happen every day, harming or abusing these innocent children is a crime! What makes it worse is that these two employees are trusted by parents to look after their kids while they go to work. Learning about the abuse is a breach of trust between parents and daycare centers.
“The video was pretty clear, but it was tough to figure out why this took place,” Clemens said. “All of it seemed to be happening really just kind of because.”
Authorities said that none of the toddlers required medical attention, but some parents explained that their kids had complained about back pain and headaches. They also mentioned that they didn’t like nap time.
What’s your take on this? Do you agree that these two abusive women should be locked up in jail? Let us know what you think in the comments section below!