Day care owner charged after shocking abuse caught on cam
The owner of a Nebraska day care center was arrested after a shocking video surfaced showing her abusing a 4-year-old girl — striking her repeatedly while screaming at the girl for touching her hair, authorities said.
Lynn Rowe, 58, owner of Lynn’s Learning Center in Omaha, was arrested Thursday on a felony child abuse charges after police received a report earlier this month about alleged abuse at the day care center. The disturbing cellphone footage – captured by a former employee – shows Rowe yelling at the girl before hitting her multiple times in the head and arm, the Omaha World-Herald reports.
“Quit messing with your hair,” the woman, identified as Rowe, tells the girl before repeatedly punching her arm and shoulder.
“That hurt me,” the sobbing girl responds.
“Good, I hope it hurts you,” the woman says before shaking the girl violently.
Rowe, who operated the center on S. 112th Street, was arrested at a home in Missouri Valley, Iowa, the World-Herald reports.
The girl’s parents, Allen and Kelley Meyers, said the former employee who recorded the disturbing clip gave them a copy before they went to police.
“After we gave the video to the other parents, they all took their kids out of there,” Meyers told the newspaper, saying up to 14 children were removed from the center prior to its closure on Friday by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
Meyers said her daughter was also verbally abused by Rowe, but insists the girl isn’t showing any lasting effects of the disturbing treatment.
“Kids are pretty resilient,” she said. “She’s doing OK.”
Meyers said she’s glad Rowe will now have to “take some responsibility” for her actions.
Allen Meyers told NBC News that Rowe initially tried to minimize the severity of the incident when confronted by the couple with the cellphone video. His daughter had been attending the day care center since she was just a few months old, and his 7-year-old son was also cared for at the location, he said.
“When we presented her with the video, then the real emotions came up,” he said. “She couldn’t watch even three seconds of it and asked us to turn it off. She started to cry and ask us for forgiveness.”
Meyers said Rowe blamed stress for the shocking abuse caught on camera.
It was unclear whether Rowe had hired an attorney, NBC News reports.
Police in Omaha are now investigating whether other children were abused or neglected under Rowe’s care.