Leaving our children in the care of complete strangers is a nerve-wracking experience. After all, you have no idea how much that person will change once you’ve driven away, and your little one is completely at their mercy. More often than not, the person charged with their care is a caring, loving, and responsible individual who our children may develop a special bond with. However, there are other times when these people turn out not to be who they claimed to be when we first meet them. Such was the case regarding a now-former daycare owner named Rebecca Anderson, who ran the Home Child Center out of her home in Mesquite, Texas.
Anderson was arrested and was accused several counts of child endangerment after a parent filed a complaint with police claiming that she had strapped toddlers and infants to the seat of her car. However, after further investigation, it turns out that the alleged crimes were even more serious. According to police, Anderson admitted to keeping a few children tied up daily for up to seven hours! Police served the 60-year-old business owner with a warrant after a concealed camera reportedly captured her harming a six-month-old baby. In the video, a woman (who is believed to be Anderson) is seen jerking a newborn baby by pulling on the bib around the child’s neck. She then is seen taking a syringe and forcing him to drink an unidentified substance. The child’s parents installed the camera, and it turned out to be proof of other crimes that Anderson is said to have committed.
An official at Anderson’s home says that she told them that she was only watching five children. However, after searching the home, they said they found another three children bound to car seats. The three kids were locked in a dark storage closet. Police then said they found a fourth child tied up in a bedroom.
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Police also say that the kids had shoelaces tied around their necks, some of them were so tight that they needed to be cut off.
Anderson also allegedly confessed to giving the children Tylenol to “make her job easier.” When officials spoke with her neighbors, several expressed their prior concerns about Anderson, noting that sometimes they would hear children screaming at the top of their lungs whenever parents dropped off their kids.
Anderson was booked on September 16, 2018, at the jail in Dallas county on nine counts of child endangerment. You can watch a full report on this story in the video below.
