Found in licensed central Iowa day cares: Drugs, felons and abused children

© Copyright 2019, Des Moines Register and Tribune Co. 

This is the second part in a series investigating Iowa's child care dangers. Read part 1 here.

One Iowa child care worker took meth, hallucinated and then reported to police that a bleeding man had emerged from a wall at her house. Hours later she reopened her in-home day care.

At another day care, a displeased staff member yanked a child by the arm and dislocated his shoulder.

At an in-home day care, police conducting a search, with children present, found baggies with heroin residue in a bedroom dresser.

And at many other Iowa child care operations, children got lost or were left alone in vehicles for extended periods.

Those are a few of the examples of the dangers children faced at central Iowa day cares in the past two years, a Des Moines Register review of complaints against registered or licensed child care facilities found. 

► MORE: Investigation: 4 children have died at day cares warned earlier they were caring for too many kids

State officials took steps to rectify each situation. But some violators continued to work in child care, sometimes choosing to watch five or fewer children in an in-home day care, where licensing or registration is not required and state scrutiny can often be avoided, the Register found.

To make matters worse for parents trying to research the backgrounds of child care workers: Violations are generally removed from the state child care complaint website once a provider’s license or registration is no longer valid.

Iowa also does not routinely track or publish warnings it has issued to day cares operating over capacity.

“Nobody wants the issues we ran into,” said Lisa Smith, whose 17-month-old daughter, Mia, died in June 2015 after being left to sleep in a car seat by Valerie Wackerly, an in-home day care provider in Pella.

Wackerly pleaded guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter, acknowledging in 2016 that her inappropriate use of the car seat contributed to Mia’s death. She served three years of probation, and her criminal record in the case has since been expunged.

Lisa Smith said said she tried to research Wackerly's background, but she did not find crucial information — including a previous DHS warning that found Wackerly had too many children in her care.

“I tried to do the research. I looked online, and I asked the questions I thought I was supposed to ask a provider,” Smith said.  “Not having all the answers, I think, was potentially lethal.”

► MORE: 15 people have been arrested in Iowa since 2014 for violating day care licensing laws

A felon and a sex offender at in-home day cares

Sometimes a child is potentially at risk in in-home day care not because of the provider, but because of who else is in the home.

People convicted of certain crimes, including forceable felonies, are prohibited from involvement in child care.

Amber Biga was operating a registered in-home day care in Ankeny in May 2017 when a DHS worker, accompanied by two police officers, arrived to investigate a complaint that she was dating a convicted felon who was living in her home.

Biga said she was aware of Sam Archer's felony conviction and had not applied to have Archer approved as an in-home resident.

Archer was 17 in 1991, when he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after an accomplice in a robbery hit convenience store employee David Conley Scott in the head with a hammer, and he died. Archer served 12 years of a 50-year prison sentence before he was granted a combination of work release and parole.

Then in 2005, Archer was convicted of “voluntary absence” after he was declared an escapee by the Fort Des Moines work release center. He returned to prison for about five more years because of the escape, state records show. And in 2014 he was convicted of a serious misdemeanor assault for striking a man with his fist while at a Des Moines bar, records show. He served a year of probation for that crime.

State complaint records show Biga inquired with state officials during the May 2017 investigation about whether she could change her day care to nonregistered. She signed a voluntary cancellation of her registration within a week, records show.

Biga told the Register in June that she now watches five instead of 12 children at her unregistered day care, which is not subject to the state’s child care regulations. Archer and Biga are now married and reside together in the home.

Archer has reformed his life, Biga said. He was a teenager at the time the crime occurred and was not the person who swung the hammer that killed the clerk, she noted.

“It’s a very hard subject because I can understand where they’re coming from,” Biga said about people who may have concerns about her husband’s past. “But people change. Now he’s a family guy who has multiple children and grandchildren that he’s active with. He’s trying to live his life for the better. It’s unfortunate that people have to be judgmental and not give other people chances.”

Also in May 2017, a registered sex offender was found inside Lori Parsons’ in-home day care when a DHS worker who was responding to a complaint made an unannounced visit. Parsons voluntarily cancelled her registration the day of the visit. The man was not named in the state’s complaint but was identified as Parsons' brother.

Parsons acknowledged her brother was helping care for children during the surprise visit, but she contends he was not a danger to children. He was on Florida’s registry for flashing an adult and has not been on the list since 2012, Parsons said.

Parsons now works at an early learning center in the metro and hopes to get her in-home registration restored. The registration is required for clients to qualify for a federal child care assistance program, which she said helps makes in-home child care financially viable.

“I make much less than half of what I made before, and my bills haven’t changed. It’s a struggle,” Parsons said.

► Take a closer look at serious central Iowa violations found in day care inspections database

Advocate: No second chances in child care

Child care providers who commit serious safety violations or show poor judgment with kids should not be given second chances, said Emalie Cipale, an Iowa advocate for child care reform. And violators' records should be made widely available, she said.

Harper Condo, Cipale’s daughter, was hospitalized in 2016 after another child bit her repeatedly at a Pleasant Hill in-home day care. Cindy Marie Holt, 51, admitted she had left the 9-month-old child unattended for an extended period. Holt pleaded guilty in 2017 to a charge of felony child endangerment. Amanda Holt, her daughter, pleaded guilty to an aggravated misdemeanor child endangerment charge.

Criminal records related to the abuse can no longer be viewed by the public. As part of a deferred judgment, the Holts' records were expunged after they completed their two years of probation. And because they no longer operate a registered or licensed facility, their names do not appear on a state of Iowa website that makes child care inspection reports public.

Social media posts published this year appeared to show Cindy Holt was advertising to provide care for up to five children, the maximum number for an Iowa day care to go unlicensed.

A condition of Cindy Holt’s 2017 guilty plea — a document that is no longer available for public inspection — specified that she would never again provide child care. The social media posts prompted Cipale to call police and led to an investigation by the Iowa Department of Human Services, which warned Holt to keep her child care career retired or face new criminal charges.

Cipale is now calling on Iowa lawmakers to adopt rules that prohibit the expungement of criminal records for people convicted of serious child care crimes.

► MORE: Iowa mom on a mission to strengthen oversight after her daughter was injured at a day care

To prevent unscrupulous child workers from avoiding oversight, Cipale also wants lawmakers to require that all child care providers be licensed, registered or certified, a measure adopted in 10 states, including Kansas and Michigan in the Midwest.

Harper, now 3, did not suffer permanent physical injury because of the 2016 incident. But Cipale contends that information about misconduct like the Holts committed needs to be available to the public to protect children.

“I feel like that record needs to stick, and I want to change that,” Cipale said.

► PART 3: Iowa's regulation of in-home day cares is light; caseloads of inspectors heavy 

A closer look

Here are details about some of the cases cited in this article, based on police and court documents, Department of Human Services reports and other public records. Unless noted, the child care providers did not respond to requests for comment.

HALLUCINATED AFTER TAKING METH: Cassandra Stapes called police on Jan. 25, 2017, to report that a bleeding man was coming out of a wall at her home at 2704 Hubbell Ave. in Des Moines. Stapes later admitted she was hallucinating after taking methamphetamine with her boyfriend, Rocky Matherly, at the home, where she cared for up to eight children. (Matherly was arrested the next day at the in-home day care by a fugitive squad for violating parole and returned to prison.) Stapes denied watching children while she was high, but a DHS investigation showed she cared for children during some of the days she admitted taking meth. Stapes’ registration was revoked, and she is prohibited from involvement in child care. 

HEROIN RESIDUE: Police in May 2017 found baggies with heroin residue in the bedroom of Shannon Wease, an in-home child care provider who lived at 4101 Glover Ave. in Des Moines. Wease’s registration was revoked, and she is prohibited from involvement in child care.

CHILD’S SHOULDER DISLOCATED: A staff member referenced as MK at the Step Ahead Child Care & Preschool in Clive, was upset in February with a 2-year-old boy who was climbing on tables, DHS records show. She grabbed him by an arm and dislocated his shoulder. The agency found the center in noncompliance with state disciplinary rules, and the staffer was fired. Another complaint in March concerned a staff member who had a heart attack while at the center and later tested positive for methamphetamine and marijuana in her system. The center was again found to be in noncompliance but took proper steps to prevent a similar situation, the DHS concluded. The center remains open.

LOST CHILDREN: Multiple DHS reports found children were left in vehicles or forgotten during excursions. A few examples:

• A 5-year-old boy in a summer program at Horizon Elementary in Johnston was found alone and crying when staff returned from a field trip in July 2018 and realized the child had been left behind for nearly three hours. The child is believed to have fallen asleep and was somehow overlooked as the class left for the trip. The lead teacher in the child’s room, identified as JE, was suspended for three days as a result. The teacher no longer works for the district, said Laura Sprague, secretary of Johnston schools. The incident resulted in a systemwide retraining, she said. “They’re little, they fall asleep and it was just pure oversight in how they left the room that day,” Sprague said. “But it was also an opportunity to retrain staff."
• A 5-year-old was left on a bus for at least 45 minutes in January 2017 at Tender Years Daycare 1. Director Mechelle Sparks “had other things on her mind" and failed to walk to the back of the bus to check that all children had exited. Records do not indicate whether Sparks, who is listed as director in a state evaluation of the center more than a year after the incident, was disciplined.

ON DRUGS AND ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL: At Tender Years Daycare 5 in Polk City, on-site supervisor Kirsten Burdick was believed by her staff to be under the influence of a drug in September 2017 before she fell asleep and the bus she was driving with about 30 children aboard jumped a curb. Burdick admitted she “dozed off” twice but didn't pull the bus over. She also admitted to smoking marijuana in the day care’s parking lot after work on at least one occasion. Dee Yates, the site’s director, knew about the marijuana incident but failed to notify the day care’s owner, Paula Eichinger, a 2017 DHS record shows. Eichinger told a DHS investigator that both Burdick and Yates were being fired, according to the record. Yates, however, is still listed as the site’s director, according to a March 2019 license report.

GUNS AND WEED: Police found grow lights, baggies of marijuana and loaded guns at an in-home day care at 1824 Francis Ave. in Des Moines run by Shanae Thomas in April 2018. The agency revoked her registration shortly after the incident.

LEFT ON PILLOW, INFANT NEARLY DIES: A 4-month-old was left on his stomach on a Boppy-style pillow while a staffer at West Side Kids Inc. took out trash for two or three minutes. The staffer returned to find the infant in respiratory distress, with blood coming from his nose and mouth. The child was initially unconscious, his lips were blue and his eyes were “weird,” according to statements made May 21 by day care workers during an emotional four-minute 911 call obtained by the Register. DHS concluded the day care at 255 NE Dartmoor Drive in Waukee wasn't complying with safety requirements, including having too many children for each adult, when the worker left the room.  Had the day care worker referenced as “CC” been sitting on the floor next to the child and actively observing him, he may not have gone into respiratory distress, DHS concluded. The day care’s license remains valid. Waukee police collected a pillow cover stained by blood as evidence but ultimately closed the case without filing charges. The entire two-page police narrative of the incident has been redacted from public record. Lt. Jeff Mellencamp said the narrative is considered part of the department's investigative file, making it exempt from public records law, and would not be released without a subpoena or court order.

About the author

JASON CLAYWORTH is an investigative reporter at the Des Moines Register whose focus includes government operations. He is an Iowa native and a graduate of Drake University's journalism school. 

Do you have an experience with Iowa child care that you want the public to know about?  Contact Clayworth at jclayworth@dmreg.com or call 515-699-7058.