Woman who ran Moberly daycare charged with child abuse

Editor's note: The name of the daycare was added to this story.

MOBERLY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A woman who runs a daycare in Moberly was charged with four counts of child abuse on Friday.

A warrant was issued for the arrest of Naomi Hess, who ran Play N' Learn Daycare, court information states. Hess was not listed on the Randolph County Jail roster on Tuesday afternoon. A court date has not been set.

The probable cause statement claims video showed Hess:

• Putting her legs on top of a child who was moving and crying;
• Pulling a child’s legs from under them in order to get them to lay down;
• Grabbing a child’s arm and pushing them down;
• Separating a child from the rest of the group, among other things.

A witness allegedly told law enforcement that a child was slapped on their back, as well, the statement says.

Police spoke with Hess on Aug. 22 and she allegedly acknowledged a number of the events described in the probable cause statement and claimed she should not have done a number of those things. She allegedly said the slap she gave to one of the children’s backs was not intentional, the statement says. Hess also allegedly said the mother of a child she put her legs on knows she restrains them with her legs, the statement says.

Court documents claim Hess voluntarily relinquished her daycare license to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.