How dumb do you have to be to do this?
HAMILTON, Miss. (AP) — Four people linked to viral video footage of Mississippi day care employees using a scary mask to frighten young children are facing charges of felony child abuse, and a fifth person faces two misdemeanor counts, authorities say.
HAMILTON • Four former Lil’ Blessings Child Care & Learning Center employees have been charged with felonies in connection to “behavior modification” instances caught on cell phone video involving an employee wearing a Halloween mask to punish children deemed as being bad.
A fifth employee faces two separate misdemeanor charges in the case.
“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.
According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Sierra McCandless, 21; Oci-Anna Kilburn, 28; Jennifer Newman, 25; and Shyenne Shelton, 28, were each charged with three counts of felony child abuse on Oct. 19.
Traci Hutson, 44, was charged with failure to report abuse by a mandatory reporter and simple assault against a minor, which are both misdemeanors.
Monroe County Justice Court Judge Sarah Stevens set bond Oct. 20 for McCandless and Kilburn at $20,000 and for Newman and Shelton at $15,000.
Crook said all five individuals live in the Hamilton/Caledonia area.
Three videos of children being frightened by a daycare employee wearing the mask surfaced on Facebook Oct. 5 and quickly went viral online. The children were pointed out by other employees for acting bad and not cleaning up in their rooms at the daycare.
A roughly two-minute video clip shows an employee prompting another who is filming to enter a room at the daycare while the employee wearing the mask is told which children behaved badly and who acted good.
The employee in the mask is shown inches away from children in this clip, and in two shorter videos, screaming in their faces. While she is shown chasing a child across a room and picking him up in one of the shorter clips, she was videoed screaming at children while they were seated eating a meal in another clip and rubbing two children’s heads.
Children are shown frightened and crying in all three videos.
“We opened an investigation to look into it to see if it was a crime and fit one of our state statutes and if so, which one?,” Crook said. “Earlier this week, we met with all of the families that wanted to meet with us considering possible charges and what those charges might me.”
The closed meeting, held at the Monroe County Courthouse, included families involved, MCSO investigators, the district attorney and the county prosecuting attorney.
“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,” Crook said. “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.”
He added Hutson was not linked to the videos but had knowledge of the incidents and failed to report them.
Katelyn Johnson, who works at the MCSO as an administrative assistant, is the parent of the child who was picked up – Pierce, who is 2.
“He’s been doing okay. He has reactions to the specific mask that she used, and we’ve had a few nights where it’s hard for him to either go to bed or he’ll be waking up in the middle of the night but it’s not anything that positive reinforcement can’t help with,” she said.
Johnson added Pierce never feared his teacher at the daycare.
“With him being so young, what I’m told is positive reinforcement, love and reassuring and that he is in a safe place may be what’s best for him. A 2-year-old isn’t going to understand a regular therapy session or play therapy,” she said.
She has not filed charges and is awaiting the outcome of the investigation before deciding.
“I hope, for anything, there is justice for the children and at the end of this, all the women involved are brought to light with all the damage they have done and the trauma brought to the families, the parents and the children,” Johnson said.
Since the videos were posted on Facebook, the MCSO and Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) launched separate investigations. Crook said information has been shared between both agencies.
Following the release of the videos, the MSDH issued an Emergency Suspension of License to Lil’ Blessings, which was a cease and desist of operation order pending investigation of the incident.
Lil’ Blessings is Hamilton’s only daycare.
“It has been an inconvenience for me specifically because I’ve had to find somebody that I trust. The only other daycare is in Aberdeen, and they have a waiting list. Driving to Amory, Greenwood Springs or Columbus is inconvenient if an emergency were to arise,” said Johnson, whose 5-year-old daughter participated in Lil’ Blessings’ after school program.
“She has been there since she was 18 months old, and this is the first time we’ve had an instance like this arise,” she said.
The daycare’s owner said earlier this month she was not made aware of the videos at the times they were filmed. She terminated four employees after the videos surfaced.
The incident has gained attention from media outlets throughout the world and countless people who have voiced opinions on social media.
“One thing I’ve learned quickly over the last three years or so is people’s opinions matter to them, and getting that opinion out there matters to them. In a case like this, you’ve got thousands of people who want you to hear their opinion on what they think you should do. At the end of the day, none of them matter. The opinions that do matter are those of the district attorney, the prosecuting attorney, the judges and juries who look at these things and, of course, the parents of the kids involved in it.
“Rather than go through Facebook and address the thousands of issues out there, we wanted to meet specifically with those parents involved and keep them informed where we were at and look out for the best interest of them,” Crook said, adding it’s the families’ place to decide the charges and not his. “My heart goes out to everyone involved in this.”
He said the felonies charges will ultimately be presented to the grand jury to determine if there’s enough evidence for formal indictments, which could lead to court trials.
A Negative Mind ~ Will give you a Negative Life
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