North Texas Daycare Worker Charged With Child Abuse
HASLET, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - A North Texas daycare worker faces a felony child abuse charge for a violent assault caught on video.
Those who run the Little Country Daycare and Preschool in Haslet are not talking about the arrest of employee, Tracy Ludwig.
They did say they were cooperating with authorities but could not comment any further.
The alleged abuse came to light when a 4-year-old's mother demanded to see security video because no one could explain how he got serious facial injuries.
In the video an adult straddles a small boy on the floor and repeatedly slaps and pinches him.
Kindsie Andreason, the child's mother, obtained the video of her son being assaulted inside the Little County Daycare and Preschool.
It was recorded on November 6 when he came home with welts and bruises that she was told were caused by him acting up.
Authorities investigated and arrested Ludwig for felony child abuse.
Andreason says she can only wonder if her son was assaulted more than once in his two years at the school before she removed him.
"Whenever we were watching the video outrage just went over me, I mean just to see your son being beat by a teacher that you pay to care for your kid while you're at work. It makes me sick," said Andreason.
Andreason says she likely would've never known about the abuse if not for a teacher who alerted her.
She believes the daycare management tried to conceal what happened and that's why she posted the video on social media and plans to sue the daycare.
This is not the first complaint about inappropriate discipline at Little Country Daycare and Preschool. The CBS 11 I-Team found the center was issued four violations earlier this year. Two of the violations were even considered "high risk."
The violations stem from an incident in May when an employee force fed a child, according to an inspection report provided by Texas Health and Human Services.
The report states after the child vomited, the employee yelled for the child to leave the room, then tossed a towel to the child to clean up the mess.
While staff informed the child's parents about the incident, Little Country did not tell the state. The lack of oversight resulted in a third violation.
A fourth violation was issued over missing paperwork.
State inspectors gave the daycare a week and a half to fix the issues.
A second report acknowledges Little Country complied with changes. Administrators acknowledged that children can't be forced to eat and employees interacted with kids in a "positive manner," according to an inspection report.
In Texas, licensed childcare facilities must be inspected at least once a year by The Department of Health and Human Services.
Information about these centers is posted online.
If centers face violations, they must also face more inspections.
Since 2015, Little Country has faced nine inspections.
A state database indicates the daycare was issued three violations in 2015 over record-keeping issues.
A look at a pair of inspection reports below:
CBS 11 investigative reporter Alanna Autler contributed to this report.
