Beware of Erin in the Modesto, CA area

Received Friday, December 18, 2008
Please check this person's references -- thoroughly. There is one work reference that she neglects to put on her resume -- Nanny Services of Greater Modesto -- you can find them on-line at Modestonannies.com. Call them as a reference, as they rightfully should be listed on her resume. As for our experience with Eryn, I will relate to you what my children told me. Eryn denies most of it, of course. You can be the judge. The children are 8, 7 and 4. (we also have a 1 year old, but she doesn't talk yet) We spoke to each child separately, they all told the same stories, none of their stories have changed over time.

Eryn was with us one week. At the end of the week, we were in a bind because our overnight babysitter did not work out. We decided to take a chance and let Eryn do the overnight. During the period from 8:00 p.m. Friday to about 5:00 p.m. Saturday, all of the following happened. Eryn allowed our 7 and 8 year old to stay up until midnight. She slept in the same bed with the two girls. Eryn claims the girls just fell asleep watching movies, but my 8 year old insists that Eryn suggested they all get in bed together and sleep together.

Before going to sleep, she took a large switch-blade-type knife from her purse and put in my bedside table, which has no baby locks. She told my daughters that it was there for protection so she could stab anyone who tried to break in. She also moved a baseball bat to the girls side of the bed and told them they could use that for protection while she was using the knife. When I returned home from our trip, the bedside drawer was open, and it was obvious my 1 year old daughter had been playing in it, because there were a bunch of her toys, etc. in there. As I pulled things out of the drawer, I grabbed the knife and hit the button that flips it open. A 4-inch blade (complete with blood spots) instantly popped out. Eryn does not deny putting this knife in the drawer and forgetting to take it out. This should be enough to make you question things, but read on.

The next day, Eryn took the kids to Costco for pizza. My children insist that Eryn then called her ex-boyfriend (whom we had never met), and pleaded with him to come to Costco. Eryn claims she did not plead, but that he only came to give her money he owed her. My children state that, once he got there, Eryn pleaded with him to go to the mall with them. Eryn's side is that she did not plead, and did not even want him along. My children each recall that this ex-boyfriend then drove our car, with the children and Eryn, to the mall. Eryn swears he only sat in our car in the Costco parking lot while she drove him to his car, but children (even the 4 year old) insist that Keven not only sat in our car, but drove the car as well.

Once at the mall, our children state that Eryn tried to convince the ex-boyfriend to watch the 1 year old and 4 year old at the shoe store, while she and the older two shopped for shoes for her friend's upcoming wedding. When the ex-boyfriend refused, Eryn got him to stay with the 4 year old outside the shoe store. Eryn does not deny that she let her ex-boyfriend supervise our 4 year old outside the shoe store.

We let Eryn go the night we got home and learned all of this. She denied most of it, but even what she admitted was enough for us to feel we dodged a huge bullet. Eryn cried hysterically and kept saying over and over how attached she was to the children, and how much she loved them. After just one week. And it doesn't end there.

The next day, my husband and I noticed a little red pill in plain view on our bedroom floor. My husband said he wanted to get it tested to see what it was. He finally had the opportunity to do so today, which is what prompted me to finally write this complaint. The pill was morphine, 30 miligrams. The pharmacist told us the dose would have been fatal to our baby, almost instantly. Probably would have killed the 4 year old pretty quickly also. I fear that the next family will not be lucky enough to dodge the bullets we dodged in hiring Eryn. That is why I am writing this complaint.

The reason I did not write it for 3 weeks is that we have been terribly afraid of backlash from her. Two days after we fired her, my husband's new car was keyed as it sat in our driveway overnight. It was too much of a coincidence not to suspect Eryn. We are truly afraid of her, especially now that we have identified that the drugs she left at our house was morphine. No one should have to look over their shoulder in fear of a former nanny.

Eryn has since sent us several emails, demanding that we pay her additional money and return her things, specifically her knife and the photo of her dead friend that she posted on our refridgerator! We are fearful the emails will turn into cyberstalking, particularly after I lodge this complaint.

I forgot one other thing that happened during Eryn's overnight stay, that I thought people should know. Eryn told our two older girls that she would take a shower with them if there was time. Luckily, there was not. Eryn claims that she only said she would come in the bathroom with them, not in the shower. But the girls are insistent that this it not what she meant. THey both distinctinly recall her saying she doesn't mind showering with them. Also, we recently asked the girls about the morphine pill we found to see if they could shed any light on how it ended up on our floor and also to make sure Eryn didn't give them any of this type of drug or any other. The girls did remember that Eryn cleaned out her purse on our bed, RIGHT in the location where we found the morphine. This is enough corroboration for us about where the morphine pill came from. Beware of Eryn she is bad news.

Comments on this thread have been disabled.