Day Care Owner Facing Charges After Police Find 26 Children Behind Fake Wall
A Colorado woman was arrested Monday after 26 children were found behind a fake wall in a day care facility that she owned.
According to The Colorado Springs Gazette, police investigated reports that Play Mountain Place was overcrowded with children on Nov. 13.
The arrest warrant affidavit recorded that day care owner Carla Faith, 58, told a Colorado Department of Human Services worker and a police officer that there were no children present.
The DHS worker and the officer discovered a large pile of kid’s backpacks in the closet, but Faith said that the backpacks belonged to a soccer team and that she had volunteered to clean them.
Court papers say that the officer heard the sounds of children’s music and a child crying coming from the basement, but Faith denied the existence of a basement and told the officer that the children were at a park.
An additional officer arrived at Play Mountain Place and noticed that a wall had moved after bumping into it. The officer also noticed that the wooden floor was scraped. The officer then moved a potted plant and noticed a small seam, giving away the false wall.
Behind the wall was a stairwell that led to the basement, where the officer found 26 children under the age of 3, accompanied by two adults, even though Colorado law requires that licensed child care centers employ a minimum of one staff member for every five 2-year-olds.
The affidavit said that “many” of the children had dirty diapers and were sweating and dehydrated, The Gazette reported.
The New York Post reported that Play Mountain Place was only permitted to care for six children; its licence was subsequently suspended by the DHS. CBS added that authorities had reportedly shut down four day care facilities owned and operated by Carla Faith in the Colorado Springs area.
Police also closed a preschool owned by Faith, leaving 24 teachers unemployed.
“We weren’t actually associated with anything going on at Play Mountain, and that’s the hardest part, was, we’re getting punished,” one teacher said.
“I didn’t even get to say goodbye to most of my kids,” said another teacher.
The Colorado DHS said that Faith had run day cares in California that had been shut down for similar reasons.
Faith was arrested Monday for suspicion of child abuse and attempting to influence a public officer, according to The Gazette. On Tuesday, she posted $3,000 bond at the El Paso County Jail.
Three of Faith’s employees — Christina Swauger, 35, Katelynne Nelson, 31, and Valerie Fresquez, 24 — were also charged with child abuse. Swauger received an additional charge of attempting to influence a public servant and Nelson was charged also with drug possession.
Swager posted a $3,000 bond, while Nelson posted a $5,00 bond, police said. Fresquez was cited and released. Faith, Swager and Nelson are all scheduled to appear in court on January 2.
Parents said that they didn’t know that Play Mountain Place was looking after so many children, nor that the children were being looked after in a basement.
“We all feel completely betrayed,” said Jeanette Conde, a mother of one of the children. “It’s so hard to trust your children with people, and we felt like we could really trust them.”
A lawsuit has been filed for breach of duty of care by parents of the children Faith cared for.
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