Over the course of several months, a childcare worker in Lindale is accused of hitting six small children 134 times.
Since October 30, Lindale resident Catherine Guziejka, 44, has been detained at the Smith County Jail on six charges related to child injury. An arrest document claims that she was seen kicking infants under her supervision in more than 100 instances beginning in July on security tape.
The arrest report states that the inquiry into Guziejka started after a coworker at Lindale’s Punkin’ Doodles Day Care reviewed CCTV footage. According to the document, the woman claimed to have captured Guziejka kicking a 2-year-old boy in the small of his back on camera.
After hearing about the event from the worker, the boy’s father called the Smith County Sheriff’s Office on October 23.
A deputy started looking over the daycare’s video, and the arrest papers show other instances of the same kind. According to the records, in each, Guziejka kicks a 2-year-old child quickly in the lower back, causing the child to cry out in agony and grab at the injured area.
The affidavit claims that the camera film revealed over 100 instances of this kind involving six kids, the first of which occurred in July.
On October 30, Guziejka was booked into the Smith County Jail after an arrest warrant was signed based on the evidence collected at the daycare. As of the time of reporting, she is still behind bars.
Since the investigation’s initial discovery on October 23, Melanie Dawn Law, the owner of Punkin’ Doodles Day Care, says the organization has been collaborating with law enforcement.
As required by state law, Law said she immediately reported the abuse to the Smith County Sheriff’s Office and CPS after firing Guziejka that day. The remaining four charges were introduced after Guziejka was first arrested on two counts of child injury, according to Law.
According to Law, there were 134 occurrences in all that were discovered in the video.
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Guziejka was employed in September of last year, according to Law, and she had the necessary training and credentials in addition to passing all background checks.
According to Law, the daycare has been sold and will reopen in December with a new name.
In order to ascertain whether abuse took place, the Department of Family and Protective Services has announced that they are looking into the events. They said that after the inquiry is over, the findings will be given to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
