Parents horrified after Blaine daycare employees arrested for abuse

BLAINE, Minn. (FOX 9) - Parents at a Blaine daycare are extremely upset after finding out police arrested two employees for allegedly abusing infants.

Small World Learning Center shut down Monday and held a meeting with parents with kids who are still enrolled. Those parents tell FOX 9 they only got notified at 10 p.m. Sunday and they still didn’t get the whole story until they talked to us.

READ MORE: 2 Blaine daycare teachers charged with abusing infants in their care

"He came home with some bruises that were a little concerning," said Cody Pech of his son.

"She had started coming home with marks," said Janice DeGonda of her daughter.

"We have pictures of bruises that are just weird," said Rep. Nolan West, (R)-Blaine, of his daughter.

Bruises and marks raised red flags within weeks of parents taking their infants to Small World Learning Center in Blaine this spring. DeGonda says she alerted administrators a month ago.

Cody and Christina Pech tried to do the same with a note from their doctor.

"We actually gave that to one of the teachers that was arrested," said Cody.

After a month of relative peace, the arrests came last week.

DeGonda’s daughter came home with severe markings and bruising to her pelvic area and eight other parts of her body. They took her to doctors, who then notified police.

Investigators checked surveillance footage.

"When he started explaining it, my heart just dropped," DeGonda said. "Because obviously. I didn't think it was anything that vicious."

Investigators say they saw Small World caretakers Elizabeth Wiemerslage and Chloe Johnson handling three babies so roughly they were obviously crying even in the silent video.

Officers say they saw the women slam a baby onto a support pillow, flip one aggressively on a floor mat, violently pull a 5-month-old up by their arm, and shove a bottle in and out of another infant’s mouth.

The Pechs discovered their son also had a fractured tibia.

"The doctor says the only explanation for that could be either his, like, being yanked on or squeezed too hard," said Cody. "It couldn't have happened from anything besides abuse."

Both women face felony charges including assault of a child with a maximum punishment of 12 years in prison.

West pulled his daughter from Small World not long ago. He’s horrified to learn what happened and ready to take ideas for change to the legislature.

He says daycare centers should keep surveillance video longer than one week, which is how long Small World stores video. And parents shouldn’t wait almost a week to find out about an abuse investigation.

"Doesn’t matter why," West said. "If police are involved, parents should know. Immediately."

DeGonda says her daughter seems mostly back to normal after almost a week away from Small World, but she won’t do tummy time.

The Pechs’ son was all smiles Monday. But the parents are keeping their eyes open for signs of trauma they never imagined their kids could suffer so soon.

"It's really just sort of like our worst nightmare coming true," said Christina. "He's our entire world, and it's just like our entire world just got flipped upside down on us."

Daycare administrators told us they fired both women, and they're cooperating with police and state investigators.

But a lot of parents told FOX 9 they're seriously thinking about pulling their children from the daycare.