A Waterbury home daycare operator arrested after a baby in her care was found in a basement crawlspace will appear in court on Monday.
A Department of Health inspector on a visit found the 6-month old girl in a car seat and unattended behind a locked door in an unfinished portion of the Yates Avenue home's basement, according to police. The baby had not been changed, had no supervision and had no food or drink for at least four hours, police said. The inspector heard crying and found the infant.
They daycare operator, Catalina Reyes, 54, was charged with risk of injury to a minor.
The baby would have put Reyes' daycare over the number of children she was licensed to care for, according to police. Authorities believe Reyes hid the child in the crawlspace so that the inspector would not realize the daycare was over capacity.
Reyes' lawyer claims the child was not part of the daycare.
"On the day in question, a neighbor and a friend came by with their kid in a car seat and asked 'Can you watch my child for a short period of time,'" Ralph Crozier said. "When the knock came on the door from the people in the state, she panicked and thought 'oh I'm in trouble now because I have another child here."
Crozier said Reyes was especially worried because she had been cited for being over capacity in 2006, so she hid the child in the basement to avoid getting caught. He disputed the police department's claim that the child was neglected. He said a daycare employee consistently checked on the infant during the inspection.
Local
All of the children in the daycare, including the 6-month-old girl, were returned to their parents. No children were injured, police said.
Reyes surrendered her license, according to Crozier, but he plans to go to court to have it reinstated.
