BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A Brunswick daycare teacher is facing two counts of child cruelty after disturbing surveillance video allegedly showed her throwing a cardboard box at an 8-year-old boy, and it was an accidental voicemail that tipped off her boss.
The suspect, Serah Williams, has since been fired.
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Action News Jax obtained exclusive video from inside the daycare, showing a little boy sitting beside a filing cabinet. Seconds later, Williams appears to hurl the box at the boy, knocking him into the cabinet. In another clip, she is seen throwing the same box at him again.
The boy’s mother, Cynthia Campos, says the child in the video is her son, Mark, who was 7 at the time.
“He hasn’t verbalized what caused him to be put in the room,” Campos told Action News Jax. “He said she stated she was going to beat my beep (expletive). And he was also trying to protect the other kids from getting hurt — that’s why he said he didn’t say anything.”
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Campos says she learned about the alleged abuse after the daycare owner received a voicemail from Williams, which appeared to have been recorded by mistake. In the message, the director is allegedly heard cursing at a child and a child is heard screaming “ow.”
That prompted the owner to review surveillance footage, which revealed the troubling incidents.
“She tracked down the footage and found the director was abusing my child,” Campos said.
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The Glynn County Detention Center shows Williams was booked on July 2.
Campos says her son has several developmental challenges, including ADHD, PTSD, and learning delays, which she believes can be frustrating to some and misunderstood by others.
“He means a lot. He’s one of the reasons I was able to turn my life around,” Campos added.
Action News Jax reached out to the daycare owner for comment on the former employee’s actions. We are still waiting to hear back.
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