A daycare was asked to close by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. teacher was accused Physical and sexual abuse of children.
The Boomer Kids Club of Woodward City agreed to the request Friday. According to KFOR-TV.
Lt. Darren Navratil of the Woodward Police Department said 19-year-old Tyler Kniest was charged with abusing a child while working at a day care.
Kniest is accused of “hitting, kicking, slapping, flipping, pushing, pulling, and slamming the children,” according to a Department of Homeland Security report.
“We located approximately 16 cases in total, including the original eight cases of child sexual abuse and approximately 16 cases of physical abuse,” Navratil said. “Some of them were repeated on the same children.”
Police said much of the evidence came from surveillance video at the day care.
“We executed a search warrant on the daycare surveillance system. That was only a month ago, so we had a month’s worth of video from inside his classroom and we reviewed it,” Navratil added. I did.
Kniest was arrested in December and charged with 25 crimes, including sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl, which was captured on video.
A 2-year-old child was punished with physical abuse for no apparent reason, according to a DHS report. Some children had their faces wrapped tightly to restrict movement during naps, the report said.
“Given the substantive findings of this child care investigation, the agency has asked Boomer Kids to voluntarily close its child care program,” said Casey White, Oklahoma DHS media relations manager. .
According to investigative journalist Rachel Van Horn, the sudden closure of the day care center has thrown the community into crisis.
“We absolutely have a huge need. As far as I know, about 60 children were being evacuated,” Van Horn told KFOR. Some are actually staying at home, some are considering opening their own daycares, and some have quit their jobs.”
Mr. Kniest was fired in December. If convicted, each felony charge could result in a prison sentence of three to 20 years. He was given bail of $250,000.
Woodward is a town of approximately 12,000 people in the northwestern part of the state.
Details of the allegations are as follows:
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