Children’s day care escapade wasn’t their first, police say

An October incident where a group of unsupervised toddlers left a Gilbert preschool and were nearly hit by cars came only four weeks after a similar incident where unsupervised children left from the same gate, according to a Gilbert police report obtained by The Arizona Republic.

The widely reported Oct. 4 incident at Little Sunshine’s Playhouse & Preschool involved a group of seven toddlers, but the police report mentions another case on Sept. 6 that was brought to the school’s attention by parents.

The September incident indicates staff may have had prior knowledge of an issue with the gate, which “contributed to the endangerment of multiple toddlers,” the police report said.

The report also said some parents of children involved tried to get money from the school in exchange for not filing a police report about the Oct. 4 incident, which is illegal under Arizona law.

The Republic has requested comment from the day care several times since the October incident. All requests have gone unanswered.

An officer wrote in a report that he had received a follow-up call on Oct. 8 from a parent of a child who escaped several days prior.

The parent told him he had contacted the school’s former director, a woman named Kristen whose last name was not given, on Oct. 7 to discuss the incident, the report said.

The parent recorded the conversation with Kristen, in which she discussed three errors and oversights made by her company that “contributed to the children exiting the property unattended,” the report said.

Kristen stated in the audio recording that her staff failed to maintain a line of sight on all the children in the playground as they were trained to do and that the security gate should have been checked daily to ensure it was secure, the report said.

Kristen also acknowledged that on Sept. 6, the staff at the school was notified by parents that the same gate had failed and let children out, the report said.

It was unclear how many children were involved in that incident.

A copy of the audio recording, as well as a copy of an email from the parent, were impounded as evidence in the case.

A supplement provided by a different police officer also supports the claims of a similar incident in September.

The officer wrote that the mother of a child who escaped on Oct. 4 contacted him on Oct. 9, saying two different parents reported the faulty gate to the day care in September.

Another officer wrote in the report that he had asked manager Jenn DeLay about the reports of the gate malfunctioning in September, to which she replied that “that was not the case.”

DeLay, the officer wrote, is “ultimately responsible” for the maintenance, protocols and actions of all employees at the preschool.

In the report, DeLay said a couple of months earlier someone had taken the trash out and the gate did not latch “for some unknown reason.”

Toddlers exited to the sidewalk just outside the gate. At that time, staff members were told not to use that gate for taking the trash out, the report said.

DeLay said the school was in the process of implementing new protocols to “make sure nothing like this happens again,” the officer wrote.

DeLay said some of the parents had requested to remove their children permanently from the school following the incident, and the school had given parents their deposits back along with a month’s tuition, the report said.

In a report from Oct. 17, a detective wrote that police had been contacted the previous day by a parent who said some of the other parents were “holding out for more money from the daycare before they decide to contact the police.”

The detective asked the woman if there was a civil lawsuit, to which she replied that some of the parents involved, including her, had contacted a lawyer but because there were no injuries or damages they “were not going to be successful in getting any money” through a lawsuit.

The woman told the detective some of the parents had already accepted a cash payment for agreeing not to pursue a lawsuit but that some parents were trying to get more money from the school, the detective wrote.

The woman said the parents were staying in touch through a social network so they could verify that they were all being given the same compensation by the school.

The detective wrote that he told the woman it appeared the parents were committing the crime of compounding, which ARS 13-2405 describes in part as knowingly receiving money in exchange for not reporting or seeking prosecution of a crime.

The detective discussed the case with his supervisor, who agreed the parents could be in violation of Arizona law, the officer wrote.

Given that there were other parents involved, the detective wrote that a component of conspiracy under ARS 131003 would be included in the case, which would be a felony because the case being investigated was child abuse.

However, the same detective wrote in a Nov. 20 report that the circumstances in the incident did not meet the requirements for a child abuse charge under ARS 13-3623(A) in part because employees did not appear to be “aware of, and consciously disregard a substantial and unjustifiable risk.”

The detective concluded that criminal charges would not be filed for the incident itself, nor for compounding or conspiracy to commit compounding.

Last month, The Republic reported that the Arizona Department of Health Services was investigating a complaint lodged against Little Sunshine’s in response to the Oct. 4 incident.

ADHS spokesman Chris Minnick told The Republic that the investigation had not been completed as of Thursday.