A Mississippi daycare is under investigation after disturbing videos of childcare workers allegedly scaring toddlers with a mask from the movie Scream have gone viral.
Sierra McCandless, 21; Oci-Anna Kilburn, 28; Jennifer Newman, 25; and Shyenne Mills, 28; have each been charged with three counts of felony child abuse, while Traci Hutson, 44; has been charged with failure to report abuse by mandatory reporter and simple assault, the Monroe County Sheriff's Department announced.
The five suspects were arrested Thursday in connection to three viral videos of the workers allegedly using the mask to frighten a group of young children left in their care at the Lil' Blessings Child Care & Learning Center in Hamilton, Miss., according to multiple reports.
"Are you being bad? Do I need to take you outside?" one daycare worker is allegedly heard screaming in a toddler's face, while wearing the mask. "You better be good," she says, before making her way into another room of toddlers.
An additional video shows what appears to be another worker donning the mask and scaring kids while they attempt to eat lunch.
Cries and screams of multiple children can be heard on the videos, which were allegedly filmed in September and October of this year, per the Associated Press.
According to the Monroe Journal, daycare owner Sheila Sanders said she was unaware of the unsettling videos until Wednesday afternoon of this week.
"The people that did those acts are no longer with us. They were fired. I wasn't here at the time and wasn't aware they were doing that. I don't condone that and never have. I just want to say it's been taken care of," Sanders told the outlet.
According to the sheriff's office, bond amounts for McCandless and Kilburn were set at $20,000, while the bonds of Newman and Mills are $15,000. Hutson's bond amount was not released.
Lawyer information for the suspects was unavailable Thursday and it was unclear if any of the women have entered a plea to the charges.
I don't get it. If you hate kids enough to do something that fucked up to them, why not just... not work with kids? There are plenty of minimum wage jobs out there, you don't have to take the one with children.