Friday, August 28, 2026 - A surveillance camera captured a home daycare employee physically harming two children, including putting wet wipes into their mouths and "slamming" one of them on a changing table, according to police.
Samantha Pearson was changing the children's diapers
when she pushed wipes into their mouths "to get them to stop crying"
at a home in Moore, Oklahoma, on June 26, according to an affidavit obtained
by KOCO-TV.
Pearson, 25, was caring for several children that day, the
affidavit said.
She has been charged with three counts of child abuse,
the District 21 District Attorney's Office announced in a news
release on Tuesday, August 25. The office serves Cleveland, Garland and McClain
counties.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the district
attorney's office said "investigators reviewed video" showing Pearson
allegedly "physically mistreating" children.
At the home daycare on June 26, Pearson was also seen
putting a different wet wipe into one child's mouth as they tried to spit out
another, the affidavit said, according to KOCO-TV.
Surveillance footage additionally caught her
"slamming" one of the two children on a changing table when they went
to "crawl away," the TV station reported per the affidavit.
She additionally "open-hand" slapped the child,
the footage showed, according to police.
As of August 25, Pearson was being held on a $300,000 bond,
according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors did not specify who owns the home daycare where
Pearson worked.
The Oklahoma Department of Human Services is investigating
the alleged abuse, the agency confirmed to KOCO-TV. The department also said
Pearson lacks a childcare license.
In announcing the charges against Pearson, the District 21
District Attorney's Office said: "Charges are based on probable cause that
a person has committed a crime. All defendants are presumed innocent unless
proven guilty in a court of law."
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