Say What Now? Wisconsin Family Plans to Sue Day Care After Child Tests Positive for Cocaine

The family of a one-year-old is gunning to sue one of the biggest child care companies in the country.

Milwaukee County prosecutors filed criminal charges against a day care teacher after doctors discovered cocaine in the system of an 11-month-old child.

The discovery came after the child’s mother took the baby boy to Children’s Wisconsin for evaluation May 15 after she noticed several scratches and marks on the child.

A urine analysis showed the child, who is now 1, tested positive for benzoylecgonine, a primary metabolite of cocaine, according to prosecutors.

After searching the mother’s home and finding nothing to indicate drug exposure there, prosecutors said investigators turned their attention to the child’s day care: KinderCare on South Howell Avenue in Oak Creek.

It was at KinderCare on May 22, prosecutors said, a drug detection dog alerted detectives to a backpack in a closet of an infant room.

The backpack, according to a criminal complaint, contained a clear plastic bag with a small amount of white powder and identifying documents belonging to Passion Watson, a KinderCare employee.

“Investigators on scene utilized a SIRCHIE NARK ID swipe test on the bag containing the white powder, which turned blue, indicating the presence of cocaine,” Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Olstinski wrote in a criminal complaint against Watson.

During a Mirandized statement, Olstinski said Watson, 24, admitted she uses cocaine socially, approximately two times a month, but denied knowing about the bag of cocaine investigators found that day.

“Watson advised she did not know how [the child] could have been exposed, but stated that it was a possibility that he was exposed to the cocaine from her, however, denied using cocaine at any time last week,” Olstinski wrote.

Detectives arrested Watson at the facility.

“Nothing is more important to us than the safety of the children in our care,” senior public relations manager Collen Moran wrote in an emailed statement about the arrest. “We work hard to create healthy spaces for work, play and learning. All of our centers and programs are drug, alcohol and tobacco free.”

Moran did not immediately respond to a follow-up questioning the assertion that nearly 30 of its facilities in Southeast Wisconsin are drug-free, given the discovery and Watson’s reported admission at the Oak Creek location.

“I would expect that a daycare that has that many locations and that type of brand recognition to have appropriate protocols, standards and policies to ensure against what took place,” said defense attorney B’Ivory LaMarr, who is representing the child and his family.

LaMarr planned to hold a news conference on Wednesday afternoon with the child’s mother outside the Oak Creek KinderCare.

Prosecutors charged Watson with possession of cocaine on or near certain places, a misdemeanor. Olstinksi said additional charges could follow.

via: WISN 12

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