NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. — A former day care employee in Yulee has been arrested on charges of child abuse after surveillance footage captured her handling toddlers aggressively, the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office said.
Video shows 31-year-old Callahan woman Kimberly McNatt covering a child entirely with a blanket, pushing a victim’s head to the ground, and yanking another child’s legs at the Early Impressions Midtown daycare location.
The owner of the daycare, Karen Boney, said they started looking into that video following several incidents.
“We had received a couple of incident reports within a short period of time, and we got suspicious because they were almost identical with two different children,” said Boney.
NCSO said the investigation began on Friday, August 29, after a mother reported that the daycare had contacted her, claiming her child had injured their lip on the side of a bed during nap time.
The NCSO report also said the toddler’s lip was visibly busted open and had bled onto the mattress.
Investigators said there were previous incidents where the victim returned home from daycare with bruises.
Boney said they immediately reported all of this to deputies and fired McNatt.
“This was not acceptable behavior, and we are not going to tolerate it,” said Boney. “You just do not hurt the babies; you just do not hurt children at all.”
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Action News Jax spoke with a parent who said her 1-year-old daughter was in the same room when this all happened. She said she was not injured.
“It enrages me for those babies,” said the parent, who did not want to show her face or to be identified. “I mean, they are innocent. They can’t protect themselves. It’s honestly heartbreaking because looking at her and how she treated the kids in front of us, I would have never guessed.”
McNatt is currently being held at the Nassau County Jail & Detention Center, facing charges of child abuse without great bodily harm.
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“Children are our most vulnerable population and I will do everything in my power to protect them from this kind of heinous abuse,” Nassau Sheriff Bill Leeper said in a news release. “I want to thank our investigators who worked swiftly to put this suspect behind bars and away from children.”
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