Coalition terminates Bradenton daycare’s contract after staffer charged with abuse
Laugh N Learn Academy has lost its contract with the Early Learning Coalition of Manatee County after a staffer was charged with aggravated child abuse involving a 4-month-old boy who suffered a broken leg.
The Bradenton daycare was served with a five-day notice, as required by Florida Department of Children and Families regulations, on Thursday following the arrest of Thalia Camarillo, 42, of Ellenton.
Currently, the Early Learning Coalition has 36 children placed at Laugh N Learn Academy, with 31 children of them enrolled in the School Readiness Program and five in the Voluntary Prekindergarten Program, or VPK. Those placements make up for the majority if not all the children currently enrolled at the daycare.
The Early Learning Coalition is a non-profit agency that receives federal and state funding and provides the funding for low-income families to place children in School Readiness and VPK programs. Licensed to take 69 children, Laugh N Learn had 32 children present during the most recent inspection by the Florida Department of Children and Families on Sept. 10, records show.
“Upon learning of the full extent of this incident late on the evening of September 22nd, I instructed staff to terminate our contracts with this provider immediately,” said Paul Sharff, CEO of the Early Learning Coalition of Manatee County. “I have spoken with the infant’s family and expressed our shock and deep regret at what has occurred, and offered all Coalition resources available to help the family in the future. Everyone at ELC wishes the child a speedy recovery.”
On Sept. 16, Jaz Johnson picked up her 4-month-old son, Indigo, from the daycare and the boy was screaming in pain. She took him to Manatee Memorial Hospital, where staff found that the infant had a fractured right femur and reported the abuse the Child Abuse Hotline.
Johnson told detectives that her son seemed normal that morning when she dropped him off at daycare, according to a probable cause affidavit.
After responding to the hospital, child protection investigators with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and Bradenton Police detectives went to the daycare to speak with the employee in charge of taking care of the boy.
Camarillo told detectives that after Indigo was dropped off that morning, he was very fussy and wouldn’t stop crying. She tried feeding him but he continued to scream, she told detectives, so she tried putting him in a bouncer but he still continued to scream. She said the daycare’s owner, Belinda Duncombee, also came in and tried to comfort the boy to no avail.
Duncombee also told detectives that she had heard the boy screaming and that she had gone in to check on him and attempted to comfort him. By 9 a.m., less than two hours after he was dropped off, Johnson was called to pick up her son.
But other staffers at the daycare told police a different story — that Indigo was not fussy that morning and was sleeping on his mother’s chest when he arrived.
Indigo had to be taken to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg because of the complexity of the fracture in his leg.
On Monday, Bradenton police detectives learned that Pinellas County Child Protection Team member Sally Smith had confirmed that the boy had a spiral fracture in his right leg. Smith thought it was plausible that the injury happened at the daycare based on the timeline she was given.
Smith concluded that the spiral fracture — which left the 4-month-old boy in a full body cast — was consistent with abuse.
Later that day, detectives were forced to obtain a search warrant in order to get video surveillance footage from the daycare.
On Wednesday morning, detectives were able to view that footage and see what happened to Indigo for themselves.
Camarillo is shown on video reaching into a crib and grabbing the 4-month-old boy and then she slapping him six times across the face, according to the probable cause affidavit. She then throws Indigo on a bouncer, grabs his “right leg and pulls it upward pass the infant’s head and pushes the leg forward.”
After watching the video footage, the lead detective called Smith and detailed what she saw. Smith said that what Camarillo was seen doing was consistent with the boy’s fractured leg.
This case has renew efforts by the Early Children Coalition of Manatee County to advocated for Manatee County to put local licensing in place for childcare facilities.
“This incident once again shines a spotlight on the need for local licensing here in Manatee County. If we had a local childcare licensing entity, we would have known the facts about this incident in immediate real-time and would have terminated this provider on September 17th,” Sharff said.
“This would have taken our remaining 35 children out of possible harm’s way two weeks earlier. All of our surrounding counties have local child care licensing. The cost of this endeavor is less than $250,000.00 and is a small price to pay to protect all children in child care, family care, and after-school care.”
The coalition has advocated for local licensing for years and on Thursday, Sharff reached out to the Manatee County commissioners to renew his push for local licensing.
“We have advocated for this for many years and will once again take this issue to county administration in the hope that we can put local licensing in place.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2021 at 3:45 PM.
