NEWBERRY, S.C. — Two childcare workers have been arrested after the Newberry County Sheriff's Office said they allowed children to beat up other children at a daycare facility.
Both employees have been fired from their jobs and turned themselves on multiple charges on Thursday morning at the Newberry County Detention Center.
The allegations of child abuse and neglect happened at Kids Unlimited of Prosperity, where the two women worked.
Sheriff Lee Foster said the daycare reported the issue to law enforcement and has been fully cooperating.
“I have no idea what the two daycare workers were thinking of that was just abhorrent behavior," Foster said. "I just can’t imagine why you would do this.”
The claims involved 27-year-old Ericka Sherai Jones and 56-year-old Serena Caldwell. Both were in court today for a bond hearing, facing multiple counts, including contributing to the delinquency of a minor and unlawful conduct toward a child.
Foster said a total of 14 children were involved, all ages 3 and 4 years old.
During the investigation, deputies say they discovered the children were instructed by the suspects to shove, pull and hit other children.
“It first started out by, with them saying the teachers had promoted other students, or other clients of the daycare, to use violence to try to punish a child or make another child compliant,” Foster said.
A parent of one of the victims, who didn't want to be identified on camera, spoke in court, saying their child was instructed to hit another kid. After he did, he was instructed to do it again.
Foster said while there were no serious physical injuries to the children, harm has been done. "We don’t know at this time how much emotional or psychological damage could have been caused by this.”
News19 reached out to Kids Unlimited of Prosperity, which sent a statement saying:
“It was brought to the attention of our senior staff member that possible offensive behavior by two staff members may have occurred. After viewing the security camera footage, the two staff members were immediately terminated. South Carolina Dept. of Social Services and the Newberry County Sheriff's Dept. we’re also immediately notified. Any further comments about the investigation will be coming from those two agencies.”
Jones and Caldwell were reportedly fired from their positions at Kids Unlimited Of Prosperity, on October 24 and placed on verbal and no trespass notice.
Bond was set today at $60,000 for Caldwell and $56,000 for Jones.