Colorado daycare owner who kept 26 children behind 'false wall' in basement without water arrested
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO: The owner of a Colorado daycare center and three of her accomplices were arrested and charged after it was found that it was overcrowded and she was hiding several children behind a false wall.
Carla Faith, 58, of Colorado Springs, first came under investigation last month after parents complained to the authorities of overcrowding at her daycare center, Play Mountain Place, according to the Gazette.
Officers from the Colorado Department of Human Services and Colorado Springs Police Department raided the center on November 13 and found at least two dozen toddlers and two adults in its unfinished basement.
An affidavit filed in connection to the case states that when police was searching the location, Faith told the officers there was no one at the center except for one boy who was waiting to be picked up by his parent.
Faith, who was in her cottage, then told officers that he was the only boy there. While they did not find any other children inside the cottage, their suspicions grew when they uncovered a large stack of backpacks in a closet.
When confronted with the evidence, she claimed she had volunteered to clean the backpacks for a soccer team. Around the same time, officers heard music coming from the basement and a child was crying.
Faith insisted there was no basement, but on closer inspection, officers found the entrance was hidden behind a false wall. Down below, there were 26 children, all under the age of two, with many of them having soiled or wet diapers, sweating, and thirsty.
Over the course of the investigation, it was found that Faith's license for Mountain Place authorized her to care of a total of six children, with no more than two children under the age of two.
Following the raid, the DHS suspended Faith's license, forcing her to shut down Mountain Place, as well as another daycare center, Counterpoint School. They arrested her, as well as three of her employees — Christina Swauger, Katelynn Nelson, and Valerie Fresquez — earlier this week.
Faith has been charged with two counts of misdemeanor child abuse and one felony count of attempting to influence a public servant. She is currently being held at the El Paso County jail on a bond of $3,000 and made her first appearance in court on December 26.
Swauger, Nelson, and Fresquez were all charged with misdemeanor child abuse, the former was also charged with attempt to influence a public servant.