Former Manatee County teacher aides avoid jail in student abuse case
Two former Manatee County teacher aides charged with restraining a 7-year-old autistic student will not serve jail time, court records show.
A Manatee County judge sentenced former teacher’s aides Taylor-Joy Internicola, 40, and Hydalmy Ortiz, 42, to probation and community labor for tying up the nonverbal student at G.D. Rogers Garden-Bullock Elementary last year, according to court records.
The judge’s ruling is similar to one made in April for a former teacher charged in the same abuse case. While all three women were spared jail time, they still face other penalties.
Internicola pleaded no contest to false imprisonment, records show. Circuit Judge Matt Whyte sentenced her to one year of probation with 60 days in the Work Offender Program. She is barred from contact with the victim and prohibited from working with children under 13 or serving as a teacher, coach or child-care provider.
Internicola’s attorney, Eric Reisinger, said she entered the plea to avoid the risk of jail and a trial and “to put this case behind her.”
“It’s a tragic case all around. I feel my client was the scapegoat for terrible leadership at the school,” Reisinger said. “She was not given proper training or direction by anyone in Manatee County and was doing what she was told, just doing what she was trained to do.”
Ortiz, who was initially charged with false imprisonment, pleaded no contest in June to reduced misdemeanor counts of battery and contributing to the delinquency of a child, according to court records. Whyte sentenced her to two years of probation with 90 days in the Work Offender Program, including 50 days to be completed in the first year. She faces the same restrictions as Internicola.
Former school employees face penalties but no convictions
The teacher aides’ sentences follow that of former Exceptional Student Education teacher Carina Chindamo, 33, who pleaded no contest in April to false imprisonment. She was placed on six months of community control followed by one year of probation and ordered to complete 50 hours of community service, records show. She is also barred from contact with the victim and from supervising children.
Court records show Whyte withheld adjudication in all three cases, meaning the former school employees will not be classified as convicted criminals. Under Florida law, a judge can withhold adjudication to impose penalties without entering a conviction, provided the defendant successfully completes the terms of the sentence.
Attorneys for Ortiz and Chindamo did not immediately respond to the Bradenton Herald’s request for comment.
Employees caught on video restraining student
The arrests stem from a series of incidents in early 2024 captured on school surveillance video. In one Feb. 2 recording, police said, the boy’s wrist was tied with a nylon rope looped around a chair leg. Chindamo and Internicola took turns sitting on the chair to keep him restrained for nearly an hour, and at one point Chindamo was seen talking on her phone, according to an arrest report.
Investigators said the rope was typically used as a “walking rope” to line up students, but district policy does not allow staff to use mechanical restraints. Administrators told police that the employees violated those protocols, according to the report.
Police said they later identified three earlier incidents in January involving the same student. In one video, Ortiz untied and retied the rope, sat on it while using her phone, and pushed the child to the ground while he remained restrained, according to an arrest report.
All three employees were arrested in February 2024 and released after posting $10,000 bond, court records show.
The School District of Manatee County previously called the allegations “disturbing and reprehensible” and confirmed the employees are no longer with the district. In a statement issued after the arrests, the district said they had been removed from classrooms and reassigned to locations where students were not present before ultimately leaving district employment.
Civil case filed by child’s mother still pending
The child’s mother, Takeila Jones, also filed a civil lawsuit in September 2024 against the school district and the former employees, the Bradenton Herald previously reported. The complaint accuses the district of negligence and the employees of false imprisonment and battery, according to court records. The lawsuit alleges the district failed to provide a safe environment and did not adequately train staff working with students with disabilities.
Jones is seeking more than $100,000 in damages. The lawsuit claims her son suffered bodily injury, emotional distress and lasting psychological harm, including trauma that continues to affect him. Her attorney, Melton Little, previously told the Bradenton Herald that the boy became physically ill after the incident, now refuses to sleep in his own bed and has transferred to a different school.
“We no longer live in a culture that believes it’s appropriate to put your hands on a child, particularly a child with special challenges,” Little said at the time.
Little did not immediately respond to the Bradenton Herald’s request for comment.
Court records show the civil case remains open, with the defendants and the School Board continuing to contest the allegations.
