The four Mississippi daycare workers fired after intentionally scaring children with horror masks have been charged with felony child abuse.
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The four female workers were charged with three counts of felony child abuse for the disturbing prank, which went viral on social media after a video showed one of the women in a Halloween mask scaring the children at Lil’ Blessings Child Care & Learning Center in Hamilton. Another daycare worker faces two misdemeanor charges, failure to report abuse, and simple assault. Sierra McCandless, 21; Oci-Anna Kilburn, 28; Jennifer Newman, 25, and Shyenne Shelton, 28, were identified as the workers involved in the prank.
In a news release, Monroe County Sheriff Kevin Crook said the daycare owner, Sheila Sanders, will not face any charges. He said the felony charge was issued after a further investigation determined that the workers intended to scare the children so they could modify their behavior instead of corporal punishment.
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Traci Hutson,44, was identified as the worker who failed to report the abuse. One of the parents, Katelyn Johnson, said her two-year-old son still had issues with sleeping after the incident and it “broke her heart.”
“Whether they had a mask on or a mask off, their behavior was unacceptable. My blood pressure was raised. It broke my heart for my child. I was angry,
As previously reported, two different videos of the prank were recorded, and the one recently filmed this month became viral. A Reddit user also revealed that the women would actively participate in these pranks to control the children.
Ok did some investigating lol and found this from the person who recorded it…day care in Mississippi pic.twitter.com/FrLLlWZoqg
— Tanya Breese (@ThatTanya) October 6, 2022
Crooks said the felony charge would be presented to a grand jury to determine if there’s enough evidence for formal indictments, as reported by WRAL.
“It can tear a community apart. Everybody who was a part of it knew each other in some shape or form. It’s a lot of emotions to deal with, and our job is to cut through those emotions, find the facts and present those facts.”