Five daycare workers have been arrested and charged with child abuse after a video of them went viral on social media.
Lil’ Blessings Childcare workers – Traci Huston, Oci-Anna Kilburn, Shyenne Shelton, Sierra McCandless and Jennifer Newman – were charged after a video emerged of one of the staff wearing a frightening Halloween mask to scare toddlers.
The video showing the workers scaring misbehaving children went viral, with one worker can be heard telling a ‘masked monster’ to skip those who have ‘been good.’
In a statement, Monroe County Sheriff Kevin Cook said: “The County Prosecuting Attorney, and the District Attorney met with the parents of the children involved in the incident at Lil’ Blessings Child Care and Learning Center and informed them of the possible criminal charges the law would allow them to pursue.”
The toddlers’ parents were also allowed to share information they had collected with MCSO investigators.
According to NBC News, Kilburn, McCandless, Shelton and Newman all face three counts of child abuse while Hutson faces two charges for not reporting the abuse.
It is not clear how many parents and guardians came forward but at least one reportedly signed an affidavit.
Sierra McCandless was the worker behind the Halloween mask. In the viral clip, she can be seen running after children who were crying in terror.
The worker released an apology video after the incident went viral and said that her action ‘wasn’t meant to harm anybody’ or be ‘ill-intentioned.’
“The teachers asked me if I would do it or if they could use [the mask] to get their class to listen or clean up . . . I’m not a child abuser,” she expressed.
Newman, who filmed the videos, took to Facebook and explained that she recorded the act not because she thought it was hilarious but because she wanted to show parents the actions of her co-workers.
“I did not video this for sh**s and giggles. It was not funny to me. I did not get amusement out of this. The one screaming in the kids faces is NOT me. The one standing next to the girl screaming is NOT me. That laughing in the video is NOT me,” she clarified.
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