Day care worker arrested after foster mother says toddler was abused
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BARDSTOWN, Kentucky (WLKY) — A day after WLKY spoke with a woman outraged over video she says showed her foster son getting sprayed in the face at day care, one of its employees has been arrested.
Video recently surfaced showing some who works at Little Angels Daycare, in Bardstown, spraying a 2-year-old with a spray bottle when he wouldn’t sit down.
According to the child’s mother, April Tonge, the incident happened last Monday, but she wasn’t made aware until she saw the video on Wednesday and posted it on Facebook.
The day care’s owner, John Royalty, told the Kentucky Standard newspaper the worker was fired Thursday morning and he reported the incident to the state Division of Regulated Child Care.
According to him it was water in the spray bottle.
Tonge filed a report with Bardstown police, and on Tuesday, officers put out a release saying a worker at that day care, Heather Jent, 35, has been charged with assault in the fourth degree for child abuse.
“Detectives interviewed witnesses, requested camera footage from the business (cameras were not working), collected physical evidence and conducted an interview with the suspect,” the release reads, in part.
Police consulted with the Nelson County Attorney’s Office about charges, and Jent was taken to the Nelson County Jail.
The arrest report does not mention the spray bottle incident, but rather says she grabbed a toddler by the arm and drug him across the floor, causing injury.
Police said the case is ongoing and additional charges are possible.
WLKY reached out multiple times to the day care and the owner for an independent comment. So far, we have not heard back.
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