Home Daycare Owner Left Kids Tied To Car Seats In Dark Room 7 Hours
MESQUITE (CBSDFW.COM) - More disturbing details were revealed in the arrest of a Mesquite home daycare owner accused of abusing the babies and toddlers she cared for.
Mesquite police said last week the father of a 6-month-old boy under Rebecca Anderson's care reviewed video from a small camera on his child's car seat. It showed the 60-year-old woman yanking his son out of the car seat, then feeding him something from a syringe.
Police said when they executed a search warrant at Anderson's home off Tamarix Court she told them there were five kids inside, but four more were found. Three children were strapped to car seats in a dark bedroom closet and another was found in the master bathroom. Police said the children had shoelace-like ligatures tied around their necks; some even had to be cut off. Anderson told police she did this to limit their movement and left them there for up to seven hours a day. She also admitted to most likely giving Tylenol to the kids.
Anderson's neighbors said sometimes when parents would drop their kids off at the Anderson's home, they would scream at the top of their lungs.
"It just kind of concerned me the way the kids sounded when the parents dropped them off," Susan Geldmeier said."It alarmed me to where I was like 'why are they sounding like that?' "
The Department of Family and Protective Services is investigating. Anderson is in jail charged with nine counts of child endangerment. Her bond was reduced to $45,000.
In the last three years Anderson was cited for one deficiency during routine inspections by Texas Health and Human Services. She did not have an emergency preparedness plan in place.
