A mother is accusing a suburban Atlanta daycare worker of tossing her child into piping hot water for three minutes, and she’s got the tapes to prove it.
“I just never in a million years thought something like this would happen,” Sherece Besley told Channel 2 Action News.
Surveillance footage captured the unidentified employee of the Young Mindz Learning Academy in DeKalb County harshly placing 9-month-old Virgil Besley onto a changing table, ripping off his diaper.
Virgil was then thrown into a sink filled with scalding water, where he remained for roughly three minutes. She said she didn’t realize the toddler was in pain until after removing him from the makeshift tub, and her actions seem to back that up. She’s seen on the surveillance video rushing around the daycare in a panicked state telling other employees what had transpired.
The woman was later arrested and charged with child cruelty and sentenced to probation. Meanwhile, the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning investigated the 2022 incident and issued the facility a notice of an enforcement fine.
“The findings of this investigation substantiated that serious rule violations occurred which jeopardized the health and safety of a child in care,” the notice read.
Virgil was also spanked on his legs while the employee put his diaper on, the department found.
Young Mindz was accused of violating two rules relating to inflicting abuse on a child and endangering their health and safety, resulting in a $499 fine.
The state warned that if corrective actions weren’t put in place, Young Mindz could lose its license.
Since the incident, the facility hasn’t received any violations and passed their last monitoring visit on Feb. 19.
Sherece Besley said her son was left with painful blisters from the water that had to be popped by medical staff.
“No amount of pain medicine could help him,” she told Channel 2 Action News.
Besley is suing Young Mindz, telling the station that his recovery journey was difficult due to the burns. He also suffered pain whenever he tried to urinate or when she changed his diaper.
“You put your trust in them, and to see how they took care of Virgil or didn’t take care of Virgil is heartbreaking,” said Besley’s attorney, Michael Neff, in a statement. “No parent should have to fear for their child’s safety when they leave childcare. What happened to Virgil never should have happened. Our lawsuit seeks justice for Virgil.”
Neff said that workers at the academy violated other policies the day Virgil was burned.
Wet wipes, not baths, are supposed to be used after changing a child’s diaper. Day cares are also required to keep children under 3 in a separate area, another policy Young Mindz violated. The security video shows an older child standing over Virgil after he’d been removed from the sink.
“This is a multi-level fail on the business,” Neff said.
Channel 2 spoke with the owner over the phone. She said she is aware of this incident but declined further comment.
