In Case You Missed It: Abbotsford Day Care Shut Down After Children Found Trapped in Play Pens
Monday, April 8th, 2019 -- 11:50 AM
-In case you missed it, an Abbotsford day care has been shut down and the family is under investigation after police discovered children locked in rooms and trapped in play pens under plywood.On March 27th, an Abbotsford Police Officer was dispatched to the home and daycare of Naomi and Gary Konieczny for a welfare check due to a complaint stating Naomi was watching up to 25 kids at one time. There were also complaints that she wasn’t providing all the children with food and not changing their diapers. The department was also told that some of the children were being locked up in playpens and cribs all day. During the initial stop on the 27th, the officer determined there were six kids at the home at that time, and Konieczny is only allowed to watch three children without a license under state law. The officer told her this was against the law and she needed to get licensed for more kids if she were going to be watching them. At that time, the officer was permitted to look around and he saw that all the kids had fresh diapers. Aside from the number of children, he didn’t find any other issues. He informed Konieczny that he would be following up with her and her information was provided to social services. Konieczny had faced issues in the past with having too many kids at one time.
This week, on Wednesday, April 3rd, officers and social services returned to the home and did a thorough search. Officers did discover children trapped in playpens and cribs with plywood and locked in rooms. One parent was told that her child was discovered locked in a room with six other children. Another child was found in a crib with plywood over the top and junk piled on top of and around the crib. The home itself was in a messy and cluttered condition, not suitable to have children there. When authorities and social services questioned Konieczny, she admitted to locking kids in playpens and cribs from the moment they were dropped off until they were picked up by parents later in the day. She also admitted that she wouldn’t change their diapers nor give them food all day. She said other children were tied to chairs. After the police made the discovery on April 3rd, parents were called and told to immediately come and pick up their children. A biological granddaughter of Konieczny was also removed from the home.
All the details in the case haven’t been released due to it still being an active investigation. As of now, Naomi and Gary Konieczny haven’t been charged for the incident nor has their adult daughter, Rachel Konieczny, who lived with the couple. However, the daycare has been shut down and authorities said they will never be able to watch children ever again nor will they hurt another child. Due to the scope of the incident, depending on where the children lived, the investigation is being split between Clark and Marathon County.
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