Former employees at a day care in Mississippi are facing child abuse charges after using a Halloween mask to scare children.
Earlier this month, a video of the incident went viral on social media.
The video shows the women walking around with a ghost mask on scaring the children as they scream and cry.
In case you missed it:
Four former workers at a day care center in Hamilton, Mississippi are facing felony child abuse charges after video shows them wearing a ghost mask as terrified children shriek and cry. A fifth worker is charged with misdemeanor assault and failing to report the abuse. pic.twitter.com/e4W7zoWFYq
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) October 20, 2022
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement on Facebook announcing four women have been charged with three counts of felony child abuse each.
Another employee was charged with failure to report abuse by mandatory reporter and and simple assault.
“On Monday October 17, 2022 MCSO, along with the County Prosecuting Attorney and the District Attorney’s Office, met with the parents of the children involved in the incident to make them aware of the possible criminal charges the law would allow them to pursue; and parents were given an opportunity to share information they had gathered with Monroe County Investigators,” the statement reads.
It continues, “The Felony charges will be presented to the next Grand Jury and it will be decided there if there is enough evidence to Indict these individuals on these charges.”
USA Today noted the employees were fired from the day care following the incident.
Sheila Sanders, the day care owner, issued a statement to The Monroe Journal.
“I contacted my licensure, and she has gotten involved,” Sanders said.
She added, “The people that did those acts are no longer with us. They were fired. I wasn’t here at the time and wasn’t aware they were doing that. I don’t condone that and never have. I just want to say it’s been taken care of.”
The video of the incident did not sit well with Twitter users.
One user tweeted, “This is sickening…”
This is sickening… https://t.co/YacgKDNCGU
— Alexa Farrell (@AlexaNFarrell) October 10, 2022
Another wrote, “Folks think traumatizing little children is funny. Clearly, it’s not.”
Folks think traumatizing little children is funny. Clearly, it’s not https://t.co/wVojl39xkT
— Whitney Alese (@TheReclaimed) October 10, 2022
Sheriff Kevin Crook expressed his disgust with the incident on Facebook.
“As a dad and as someone who has great compassion for those who can’t defend themselves, I admit it was very hard to watch these videos today; and my initial reaction was the same as most anyone else I would think… ‘they deserve to be charged,'” Crook said.
He continued, “It made me sick at my stomach to think of the terror those kids were enduring. It still does.”
