
On Monday, Katherine Weitz, 65, was arrested on three felony charges of child abuse. As of Wednesday, she was out on $30,000 bond. She is scheduled to appear back in court on Tuesday.
The incident occurred on May 23rd when Weitz was working in a room with six young children at Dream City Academy in Ormond Beach, Florida. This was her third day working as a full time employee of the day care, after initially being hired for part-time. During nap time, the office manager heard repeated crying. In order to identify where the crying was coming from, she checked the security cameras, which revealed Weitz “roughly handling” a child including shaking and slapping a child. The office manager called the owner and continued to watch the cameras until the owner arrived.
Upon the owner’s arrival, Weitz was removed from the room and questioned. She allegedly told the owner that she had “lost her temper.” Weitz was summarily terminated as an employee.
Initially, police informed the day care owner that there would be no report if there were no injuries to the children. Once parents became aware of the situation however, and saw the security video, they notified police that they wished to press charges.
Weitz had a clear background check when she was hired, with no history of any criminal history or incidents.