Daycare Worker Sentenced After Children Caught In Parking Lot
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - A daycare worker in Aurora was sentenced to a year of probation after a pair of two-year-old children wandered away from the facility.
Bisharo Mohamed, of Somalia, worked at Rising Stars daycare. She pleaded guilty to negligent child abuse.
The daycare is located near South Peoria Street and East Cornell Avenue.
It was last May, when two the toddlers walked away from the daycare.
Terra Belo's husband spotted their child and the other by themselves in the street. She says he saw a bank employee with the children.
"He sees two cars pull up, so he pulled up behind them, and it was a witness who had also seen them and then three to five minutes later, the daycare arrives to his car at the US Bank," said Belo.
Mohamed told authorities she brought the kids outside with her as she took out the trash.
The bank employee was shocked.
"She couldn't believe it. Two little kids running," Belo said. "She said they almost initially got hit by a car because they were running right down Cornell and managed to get back on the sidewalk and they were still running."
State records obtained by CBS4 investigator Rick Sallinger show the Department of Human Services conducted an investigation. Probation was recommended for the daycare, but the investigation is ongoing.
Belo told CBS4, "It's hard enough leaving your kids with strangers. You think they're well taken care and everything is okay, then this happens!"
Mohamed's attorney told the court his client was sorry and had made a mistake. Mohamed was also ordered community service and to pay a fine.
CBS4's Rick Sallinger is a Peabody award winning reporter who has been with the station more than two decades doing hard news and investigative reporting. Follow him on Twitter @ricksallinger.