Four former employees of Lil' Blessings Day Care Center in Hamilton, Mississippi face felony child abuse charges after videos circulated showing them terrifying toddlers.
In the videos, which were captured on a cell phone by one of the day care attendants, the women are shown stalking the day care room wearing a mask similar to the one in "Scream" while shrieking in various children's faces.
"It appears to us they were using the mask for behavior modification. They can't use corporal punishment, so we think they were using the mask to try to scare the kids into doing what they were supposed to be doing," said Monroe County Sheriff Kevin Crook.
"We opened an investigation to look into it to see if it was a crime and fit one of our state statutes," Crook said to Monroe Journal on Wednesday. "Earlier this week, we met with all of the families that wanted to meet with us considering possible charges and what those charges might be . . . After that meeting, we had three sets of parents who decided to go to justice court and file charges on some of the daycare workers. There were some who were certain they wanted to file felony charges, and the only felony charge that this could possibly fit in was felony child abuse under subsection 1-D, and that dealt with improper supervising of the kids and their neglect and possible substantial mental trauma from what they were going through."
Sierra McCandless, Oci-Anna Kilburn, Jennifer Newman and Misty Shyenne Mills were each charged with three counts of felony child abuse, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's. Former employee Traci Hutson was charged with failure to report abuse by a mandatory reporter and simple assault, all misdemeanors.
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"I know 100% that Ms. Sheila, the owner and director, was not aware of this situation that was going on and as soon as she found out, all parties were terminated immediately," said Kimberly Smith, parent to one of the children seen in the video in a quote obtained from AP News.
"As a dad and as someone who has great compassion for those who can't defend themselves, I admit it was very hard to watch these videos," said Sheriff Crook in a message posted to the Sheriff's Department Facebook page.
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