Authorities found 26 children, all under the age of three, behind a “false wall” that led to the basement of a Colorado daycare, according to multiple reports. The daycare’s license has since been suspended.
Authorities were conducting a welfare check on Wednesday at the Colorado Springs daycare, Play Mountain Place, following complaints about the number of children at the facility. Department of Human Services (DHS) officials and police officers said they did not find any children at the home daycare, located on Willamette Avenue, and attempted to contact the owner, who lives on the property, 58-year-old Carla Faith, but she refused to cooperate, reported Fox News.
Authorities said they then heard children making noises and followed the sounds, which led them to a “false wall.”
“During their investigation, officers found a false wall that led to the home’s basement. When officers walked down the stairs, they located two adults and 26 kids inside a finished basement, all of [whom] were under the age of three years old,” investigators said, reported CBS Denver.
The two adults were arrested and charged with misdemeanor for child abuse relating to neglect, the station reported. Detectives later dropped those charges, however, citing a pending investigation. Faith was not arrested, since detectives are pursuing “appropriate charges.”
A criminal investigation is underway and DHS is also investigating other licensed daycare centers owned by Faith, reported Fox 31 Denver.
The outlet noted that this isn’t the first time Faith’s daycare operations have run into legal trouble. In the late 1990’s, two of her facilities were closed down after authorities found she had been running over capacity.
In 1998, in one of her unlicensed centers, authorities found 44 young children in her care, the Los Angeles Times reported. In 1991, investigators found her at a park with 23 children, nine over the legal limit. She was put on 5 years probation for violating the operational capacity limit and even admitted to the crime, saying at the time: “They don’t like me because I don’t always follow their rules. Do I occasionally run over capacity? Yes, I do.”
