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The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office released surveillance video Wednesday showing two Odessa daycare workers allegedly abusing children in their care.
In the video, Tara Ballou, 28, can be seen removing a boy’s clothes and then forcing him to lie on his stomach. At one point, the video shows what appears to be Ballou supporting a child with the weight of her leg.
The video also shows the nursery’s co-owner, Rong Liu, 51, with her leg on the back of a profusely kicking child below her.
Arrested and Charged
The two employees were arrested for child abuse, but it has been months since the initial allegation was reported. Ballou was arrested Tuesday but worked at the Children’s Land of Imagination Academy until June 29.
The director and co-owner of the same daycare center was also arrested for child abuse after authorities said Liu pulled a child’s head and neck and put his legs on top of the child to hold him down. She was arrested on Friday, but the alleged incident also happened in June.
“I was contacted by an officer,” Kelly Autrey said.
That was how she discovered that her son had possibly been abused in a case that the police were investigating.
“It’s like every parent’s worst nightmare. My stomach fell to the ground,” Autrey added.
She said the call came June 28 after she dropped her son off at day care.
“I turned around and picked him up from class,” the mother said.
According to Autrey, certain emails showed that she alerted the daycare the next day when she pulled her child out of class and was frustrated that she didn’t know about the allegations a week earlier when detectives began investigating.
Although Autrey said she was notified a week later, some parents are only now finding out.
Mandy and Nick Richardson found out what was going on at her daughter’s daycare after Autrey posted an inspection report on Facebook. She showed that an investigation had now been opened and that the owner of the facility was not turning the surveillance video over to authorities unless there was a warrant.
“When we have to find out basic facts through a social media platform, that’s unacceptable,” Nick said. “Some kind of alert system would be great to keep us informed.”
Investigations
10 Tampa Bay contacted Hillsborough County Public Schools about lack of communication to parents regarding the investigation; the situation was due to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office to notify parents because it is the lead agency in child abuse investigations.
While the investigation is ongoing, the police have increased the amount of time spent at the nursery, but do not have the authority to remove staff from their posts during an investigation.
“That’s not right,” Autrey said.
She also said that if the county is in charge of licensing, closing or removing teachers from a facility, then it should do more to protect students.
“They should notify parents immediately. Let us know what’s going on. Our children cannot speak for themselves. We have to be the ones to do it for them,” Autrey said.
