BRADFORD COUNTY, Fla. — (The video above is from a previous report)
An arrest has been made in the investigation of a preschool in Starke accused of abuse of children by center staff.
The Stake Police Department says Courtney Brooke Jones, 35, was charged with child abuse without great bodily harm.
The Bradford Preschool has been under investigation for months. An emergency suspension order was issued last month after the investigation found multiple violations of Department of Children and Families guidelines.
Starke police issued the emergency suspension order that prohibits the daycare from serving children, after finding multiple violations of Department of Children and Families guidelines in a video recorded in August 2021.
In a warrant affidavit, police remarked that in the video you can hear a woman, later identified as Jones, saying things to a 4-year-old boy such as "I will grab you by the throat and choke slam you." At the end of the video, another teacher is reportedly heard saying, "that's we why put them in the yard!"
Another teacher told police that they would frequently lock children in the side yard alone as punishment.
A witness told police that the threats were an ongoing problem at the daycare as well as other problems, including using a life-size monster doll placed in a closet in an attempt to get children to behave.
It was also claimed that teachers would squeeze the cheeks of children firmly and make threats that they would staple them together with a stapler.
When interviewed by police, Jones was asked about the video. She reportedly said that she was speaking to her own son in the video. When asked about children fighting younger children, she replied that yes, there have been times when older children fought younger ones.
This case is being forwarded to the State Attorney's Office for further disposition.
First Coast News spoke with the mother of the boy in the video.
Taylor Williams says it was her 4-year-old son that can be heard in the video telling the employee to stop pulling him before she threatened to choke clam him.
“I actually did have to get him into behavior therapy just due to some of the behavior issues he’s had since then, he’s come along a lot, but we’re still just working through it," Williams, said.
Williams is one of at least four claims of abuse against the center, according to police, these claims are not sexual in nature go back to 2015.
Records also show that in 2016, the center’s owner was charged with assault against a minor, but those charges were later dropped.
Another parent, Branda Perez, claims daycare staff neglected her son and shared with First Coast News photos that showed bruises on the toddler’s face that she claims he got while at the center.
“My son had told me that he told the teachers, but they didn’t do anything, they didn’t care," Branda Perez, a mother of four, said.
Perez believes the bruises are from other children, but says staff did not notify her or take steps to solve the problem. She says filed a police report in November 2021.
"With any incident with my kids it was always oh the camera weren't working or I looked him over and didn't see anything," Perez said. “I’m hoping that DCF and the sheriff and everybody sort of opens their eyes and sees this," Perez said.
Both Perez and Williams point to what they call a pattern of neglect from staff and says the center needs to be shut down for good.