A former day care employee is charged with assaulting babies for whom she was supposed to be caring for.
Marshville police arrested Luvenia Marsh last week after an investigation at Christ Bible Teaching Center.
(Luvenia Marsh)
According to state documents, a state inspector watched surveillance video at the church day care after the alleged assaults on Oct. 12 and noted the worker “pushing, pulling, making contact with [a 10-month old boy’s] face aggressively and “popping” the child on his leg.”
[Cheraw daycare owner charged with assaulting toddler]
The same report claims the worker “forcefully fed, pushed and pulled a 7-month-old female” to get her to eat and “forcefully pulled and pushed a child down in their crib when he stood up as well as hit him in his face/head.”
“It’s very terrifying,” said a woman who asked Channel 9 not to identify her. She told Eyewitness News anchor Liz Foster her son went to the day care for years. She pulled him out a few months ago because she had concerns.
“As a parent, you’ve given your most prized possession to these people for eight to nine hours a day, and you expect for them to take care of my child, make sure they’re OK,” the mother said.
The director of the facility did not want to speak to Foster but the pastor of the church that runs the day care did.
“Immediately, once we saw that, she was escorted off the property and the state was called in,” said Pastor David Allen.
Allen said Marsh was fired immediately after working at the church-run day care for three to four years. He added that parents don’t need to be concerned.
“We have people that really love our kids and take care of them, and they are perfectly safe. We just had a disgruntled employee who just had a bad day, I guess,” Allen said.
According to the state website, the day care has a four-star rating with a superior classification, despite numerous violations in the last year.
The concerned mother said, “There needs to be a little more stricter guidelines as to how these day cares are rated because it’s way overrated.”
State inspectors have done surprise visits to the day care eight times this year. They noted violations in six of those eight visits.
Foster asked the state if the facility’s license could be suspended or revoked. A spokesperson said state regulators are aware of the situation, but by law, could not comment on possibly pending investigations.
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