Mrs Linda K. Klemm, a mother-of-four from Tarpon Springs, has been charged with child abuse after the footage captured her attacking a 16-month-old girl who was sleeping on the floor.
The incident occurred at the Kids Stop-N-Play day care in Holiday.
The victim's mother, Crystal Faggione, 24, said she noticed red marks all over her daughter, Lillian, including one underneath her eye, three on her forehead, and a red, bald patch created when the worker kicked her daughter in the head, according to The Tampa Bay Times. They noticed the marks on Saturday, which was Lillian's third day at the center.
Faggione called Stop-N-Play and explained what she' had found, but a worker said if there bruises, they did not come from the center.
However after feeding Lillian, Faggione realized there were more marks on her daughter's head she hadn't realized.
'I took her up to the day care, and I said, ''This did not happen in my house. This happened here'',' Faggione told the newspaper.
When Faggione took her baby to the hospital, the authorities were called.
Police then reviewed the 16 cameras at the center, and found the footage of Klemm.
In the video Klemm can be seen kicking the sleeping child - who was on the floor with a blanket and a teddy girl - at least four times.
The discovery of the video appalled the local officers. 'Linda should have known better. Linda was there to take care of children — little, innocent children — and she didn't,' Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco told Tampa Bay.
'Even the most hardened law enforcement officers were disgusted by what they saw in the video.'
Klemm has denied abusing the child, despite being shown the video about half a dozen times, police said.
Crystal Faggione said while the incident has been shocking for her family, she's glad she came forward and hopes it has helped other children.
'We cried a lot, but other than that, we're holding strong,' Faggione said. The owner of Kids Stop-N-Play, Rhonda Swetland, who has been operating the day care since 1992, fired Klemm immediately.
'I'm appalled. I'm devastated. I've been here 22 years. Nothing like this has ever happened,' Swetland said.
'She has four children of her own. She's not a young girl who gets stressed out. … Everybody's appalled.'
No comments:
Post a Comment