Authorities in Florida say a daycare worker in Ormond Beach was arrested on suspicion of shaking, smacking and tossing kids under her supervision.
According to KTRK, 65-year-old Katherine Weitz is accused of abusing multiple children while working at the Dream City Academy.
Police say the abuse occurred within the first three days of her full-time employment at the daycare facility. Reports indicate she passed a pre-employment background check.
Ormond Beach Police Department spokesperson Keith Walker said surveillance cameras captured her “shaking” the young children during nap time.
Authorities reportedly became involved after a manager heard children crying and checked the footage. Following her arrest, police reports indicated Weitz was expected to face criminal charges including child abuse.
Specific accusations include “a couple of kids being smacked during nap time,” Walker said, adding that Weitz also allegedly “palmed the back of their heads with her hands and pushed them face forward in their cots.”
Upon questioning Weitz, the police spokesman said she claimed to have been suffering from a headache at the time she “lost her temper” with the children, acknowledging that she “probably” broke the law with her actions.
In a short statement to WFTV, she claimed she “did not know why this was all happening,” citing her attorney’s advice to decline a full interview.
Walker said that investigators “found over 30 incidents that could be considered child abuse to at least four different children.”
[Featured image: Katherine Weitz, Volusia County Jail/video screenshot, Ormond Beach Police Deparment]
