Employee at Pacifica Day Care Center Arrested on Child Cruelty Charges

PACIFICA (CBS SF/BCN) – Officers arrested a 20-year-old woman who worked at a child care center in Pacifica on suspicion of committing cruelty toward children at the facility, police said Thursday.

Mikala Ghirarduzzi was arrested Tuesday on a $100,000 warrant for counts of felony child cruelty, misdemeanor willful cruelty to a child and additional related offenses, according to Pacifica police.

Investigators received information in July that an employee at a local day care center was possibly harming children there. Police did not identify the facility but noted it is not affiliated with the city's child care program.

The daycare center terminated Ghirarduzzi's employment and cooperated with investigators, police said.