Kentucky day care worker charged with repeatedly abusing children under her care
A Kentucky day care worker was charged Friday with abusing children under her care.
Elizabeth Thomas, 25, is charged with three counts of first-degree criminal abuse of a child 12 or younger and fourth-degree assault — child abuse. Court documents say she worked at A Step Ahead Daycare in Richmond and abused multiple children under her care.
Thomas was interviewed by police Friday and admitted to pulling children by their arms and losing her temper, according to court documents. A co-worker told police that Thomas once pulled a child across a room, yelled at the child and spat in their face after the child was spitting on other children.
Several other staff members told police Thomas would grab children’s arms and pull them around the room too hard, according to court documents.
Another time Thomas threw a child down onto a cot after the child did not want to take a nap, according to court documents. The child began crying and Thomas held the child down, wrapped them in a blanket and hit the child’s back.
The child did not want to nap because the child was hungry and requested food, but Thomas declined to feed the child, according to court documents. The child urinated on himself from the abuse and fear, and Thomas refused to clean the child up.
Thomas was previously written up for hitting children too hard because it could be heard from other rooms, according to court documents.
Another time, Thomas refused to follow a child’s special diet from a medical doctor. Court documents say Thomas told the child to eat the food provided by the day care before being allowed to eat the food packed by the parents.
When the child had the opportunity to eat the packed lunch, Thomas served only fruit and withheld the rest of the meal, saying it was only snack food, court documents say. Thomas told police she didn’t know about the special diet, but a former director told police she told Thomas and other teachers about the special diet.
The child refused to eat because they weren’t served the special packed meal, according to court documents.
Thomas was booked into the Madison County Detention Center, according to court documents. She has since been released after posting a portion of her $50,000 bond.
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