"What were you thinking?" said Sheriff Lee Foster. "I have no idea who would think that it was any way appropriate to encourage three and four-year-old children to participate in violent acts, regardless of what they thought it would do.”
Two South Carolina daycare workers are accused of forcing toddlers to fight one another and filming the incidents.
Ericka Sherai’ Jones, 27, is charged with 14 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and 14 counts of unlawful conduct toward a child while Serena Caldwell, 56, is facing 15 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and 15 counts of unlawful conduct toward a child.
The Newberry County Sheriff’s Office tells Inside Edition Digital that the investigation into the two women is ongoing, and that 14 juvenile victims have been identified at this time.
Both women appeared before a magistrate last week and were bonded out on cash/surety bonds. They have yet to enter a plea to any of the charges they are facing, and lawyers for both women did not respond to requests for comment.
It was an employee at the daycare where the two women worked who alerted the sheriff's office, according to an incident report obtained by Inside Edition Digital.
One of the juvenile victims told an employee at Kids Unlimited of Prosperity daycare that "they were taken from the class to go into another class and hit a younger juvenile," says the report.
Supervisors then reviewed surveillance cameras and "discovered there were at least two juveniles hit or slapped on the head and face," according to the report.
The daycare told the sheriff's office that they then learned that the juvenile had been instructed to hit the other juveniles by one of the accused women, who "may have used her phone to video the incident," says the report.
“It was brought to the attention of our senior staff member that possible offensive behavior by two staff members may have occurred. After viewing the security camera footage, the two staff members were immediately terminated," the daycare said in a statement. "South Carolina Department of Social Services and the Newberry County Sheriff's Department were also immediately notified," the statement said, adding, "Any further comments about the investigation will be coming from those two agencies.”
Sheriff Lee Foster said that the daycare has been cooperating with the investigation.
He also said that while there were no physical injuries to any of the children it is unclear "how much emotional and psychological damage could have been caused by this."
Sheriff Foster said that the two women encouraged the violence to "punish a child or make another child compliant."
He is still however in disbelief of the alleged actions of these women.
"What were you thinking?" said Sheriff Foster. "I have no idea who would think that it was any way appropriate to encourage three and four-year-old children to participate in violent acts, regardless of what they thought it would do.”
