South Jersey day care worker surrenders to police after allegedly assaulting 2 kids
"He is having nightmares in his sleep. He won't go to sleep if I don't hold him," said the boy's mother.
GALLOWAY TWP., New Jersey (WPVI) -- A South Jersey day care employee is accused of hurting two children under her care.
At first, Jehan Attiyeh says she was not overly concerned when she received a call from Children Academy Child Care and Learning Centers in Galloway Township.
The call was to inform her that her two-year-old son, Blessen, woke up from a nap with a bruise on his face.
Then, the day care sent her a photo of the bruise and Attiyeh got back on the phone right away.
"I asked, 'Who smacked my son?' You know, you're angry. You want to do to them what they did to your child," the mother said.
Attiyeh then took her son, who is autistic and nonverbal, to a doctor whom she says confirmed the markings on Blessen's head did not get there accidentally.
"Busted blood vessels in the ear, behind the ear, in the back of the head," Attiyeh recalled. "The entire right side of his face was swollen and bruised, and you literally could see fingerprints in the bruises."
Galloway Township police were notified, and it turned out that the suspect in this case was already under suspicion of assaulting another child at this facility several weeks earlier.
Jaime Price, 36, of Egg Harbor Township, turned herself in to the police this past Monday.
"We did place charges against a female for some alleged abuse of a minor. She was charged with endangering the welfare of a minor as well as simple assault," said Galloway Township Police Lt. Eric Hendrickson.
Attiyeh says she is certainly happy that the suspect will face a judge, but that does nothing to heal her son's mental scars.
"He is having nightmares in his sleep. He won't go to sleep if I don't hold him. He is so innocent that he doesn't really know what's going on. He's clueless and just hurting, you know?" said Attiyeh.
The question that lingers is why was the suspect allowed access to the children for as long as she was?
Action News reached out to Children Academy for an answer to that question, but they declined to comment at this time.
Price is charged with two counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child and Simple Assault.
Anyone who may have additional information is encouraged to contact Detective Matt Worth at (609) 652-3705 ext. 322 or at mworth@gtpd.org
