Thursday

In The News...

Thursday, July 2, 2009
Mom too Stoned to Drive, Asks 12 yo Daughter to Take The Wheel - Montana
Angela Parenteau, a 32-year-old Montana mother was arrested Wednesday after asking her 12-year-old daughter to drive three younger siblings to day care because she was "on medication".

According to Great Falls police, officers were notified after Parenteau's three young children arrived at an area day care - driven there by Parenteau's 12-year-old daughter.

Investigators say, Parenteau told them she asked her daughter to take the children (aged 1 to 4) because she was sick and on medication.

The trip reportedly entailed a five mile drive from Sun Prairie into Great Falls, where the daycare was located. The incident was discovered when employees saw Parenteau's car pull up with the pre-teen as the driver.

Parenteau was cited with four counts of endangering the welfare of children and one count of allowing an unauthorized minor to operate a motor vehicle.

Kids Found in Shed Behind Daycare Center - VIDEO - Texas
A Texas couple are in jail after a state inspector found several children locked in tool shed behind an unlicensed daycare center.

State officials say the children were surrounded by lawn equipment, gasoline and insecticide when they were found Wednesday. They were uninjured.

Austin County District Attorney Travis Koehn says 55-year-old Marietta Patek is charged with six counts of child endangerment, while her 47-year-old husband, Freddie Patek, faces an evidence tampering charge.

Child Protective Services spokeswoman Gwen Carter says 14 children up to preteen were kept at the house, including the ones found in the shed. She says the Pateks could legally care for only three children at a time.
Special Thanks to 'ma nanny' for providing the Video.

Police Find Drugs and Cash at Brooklyn Daycare Center - New York
Investigators seized more than 10 pounds of marijuana and about $100,000 in cash on Saturday from the basement of a Brooklyn day care center that was the scene of a police shooting and an attempted robbery a day earlier, officials said.

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said the money and drugs appeared to have been what the robbers were after when they burst into Special Moments Daycare in East Flatbush on Friday afternoon — while a dozen or so children were napping.

Three men were arrested at the scene, including a suspect who was shot by the police.

“It now appears the day care center was a drug haven, or where drugs in significant quantities were kept, primarily marijuana,” Mr. Kelly said.

The discovery led the police to arrest Donna Rogers, 37, who they said was the operator of the day care center, and her husband, Sherwin Rogers, 36. Both were charged with possession of marijuana.

Toddler Left Behind at Restaurant by Daycare Workers -Mississippi
In the middle of a busy lunch hour at the McDonald's on Pearson Road in Pearl, police said a toddler was left by daycare workers. Pearl Police Captain Ronnie Conerly said his department was notified by restaurant management at 1:44 p.m.

Police said a group from the daycare center at the United Methodist Church of Hazlehurst was on a field trip in the area and stopped for lunch. Conerly said 18 children were in the group.

They headed back to Hazlehurst leaving a two-year-old girl at the restaurant. Investigators said the toddler was in the inside play area when she began walking around asking for her mother.

A nearby family notified management and stayed with the child. The little girl was not hurt. According to police, her mother was notified and gave the daycare center director consent to release the child into their custody.

9 comments:

whats wrong with people said...

All 4 of these stories are horrific. How could you let a 12 year old take your other children to daycare? Wouldn't you look for better options before you handed your childrens lives and car keys over to you preteen.

People who lock kids in sheds need to be locked in a shed in the same circumstances for like a week then sent to jail on top of that. What is wrong with people.

The daycare story is so sad because that could have turned deadly for all children involved. It makes me so sad to think of what could happened that day.

The daycare that forgot the toddler needs to be shut down, re-organized, and then needs to be on probation if its re-opened. If your in charge of that many children you better have some serious organizational skills so that you can be sure you have everybody before you leave. Seriously how can you forget a child, they are your #1 priority and responsibility.

All 4 stories are sad.

CuriousDad said...

I hope the day care people of the place selling drugs also get charged with child endangerment and shut down.

mom said...

1) Jail
2) Jail
3) Jail
4) Heavily fine and then close the Day Care

Lola said...

I can't understand how "a dozen or so" parents decided to drop their children off at a daycare where there had been a shooting the day before.

I guess the economy is so bad they didn't want to risk losing their jobs?

I would have found an alternative.

BUT was it really necessary to use deadly force on the suspect, while children were present? It could have been a disaster.

mom said...

I suppose the same kind of parents who are so uninvolved that they don't have any clue that their kids spend their days locked in a machine shed in 100+ degree weather. It has been so hot here this week. It was completely miserable just walking out to our car after a movie this afternoon. I would think even a three year old would tell you enough to cause a normal parent concern if you bothered to ask about his day. Wouldn't they mention it's hot there at least, or come back really sweaty? You can tell when a kid has been sweating and I would think the parents might ask what they did to get that way. Do parents bother to ask, "What did you eat today? Or what did you do today? And there were preteens in there! My preteens would have pitched a fit the very first day and refused to go back and told me exactly why. Are these kids treated so badly in their day to day home lives that they don't even know to kick up a fuss about being treated that way at daycare? It's so incredibly sad.

Mommabearcare said...

It is my understanding from the article about the shed that the inspector showed up to check numbers since they were legally only able to have 3 there and the husband distracted him/her while the wife hid the children in places around the house, in the shed and next door. That would be why the children didn't tell their parents about the shed before because they weren't in there before. That is also why the husband only got tampering with evidence and the wife got the child neglect charges.

The parents probably didn't know that they were only able to care for 3 at a time legally. In my experience as a child care provider that most parents have no clue about numbers and assume that providers are operating legally.

The wife got 6 counts of child neglect because that was how many children were actually in the shed. The other children weren’t in danger of bodily harm since they were in the house and at the neighbors so they couldn’t pin more counts on her.

IMO, It is wrong and sick that if she had hid them all in the house and next door, she would have been shut down as a daycare but wouldn’t have had any criminal charges. She would have been up and running again within 6 months, guaranteed.

MaryPoppin'Pills said...

Thank you for the Update, Mommabearcare.

mom said...

Yes, thanks. I have been thinking about that incident a lot in the last couple of days and puzzling over how that could go on without anybody noticing. And being very upset for those kids.
Then they found two elderly ladies dead in their home in Houston because of the heat...which made me again wonder how those children were surviving in that shed day after day.

I feel at least somewhat relieved for them now.

measure twice said...

Re: Brooklyn daycare

From my understanding, the shooting happened on Friday afternoon when there were 12 children present. The next day (Saturday) the police searched the home again and found the drugs. It doesn't sound like there were children there on Saturday.