State closes Pa. day care after duct tape report

[April 03, 2013]  HAMLIN, Pa. (AP) -- The Department of Public Welfare has shut down a northeastern Pennsylvania day care after reports that a child was duct-taped and otherwise mistreated.

Welfare officials tell WNEP-TV (http://bit.ly/XIJG7J ) that owner Doreen Tomasetti is appealing the shutdown of Just 4 Kids Day Care and Learning Center in Hamlin.

Nobody answered the facility's phone on Wednesday and a cellphone number given on a voice mail message was out of service. Tomasetti doesn't have a listed home phone.

Welfare officials say two workers held a child upside-down by his ankles to stop him from biting staff and made the boy walk around in underwear to punish him for soiling his pants.

Officials say the boy's hands and feet were duct-taped to keep him still.

The center cares for children 3 to 9 years old.

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Information from: WNEP-TV, http://www.wnep.com/

[Associated Press]

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