When you drop your little tykes off at the daycare center, you expect them to be well cared for. Perhaps they’ll play with other kids, have lunchtime, hear a story, and maybe even take a nap after they tire themselves out. Now, the parents who dropped their kids off at an unnamed Manchester, New Hampshire, daycare are learning they got more than they bargained for.
According to a report from WMUR, the owner of an unlicensed daycare and three employees are now facing criminal charges for child endangerment following a lengthy investigation. Per their investigation, owner Sally Dreckmann, 52, and her three employees, Traci Innie, 51, Kaitlin Filardo, 23, and Jessica Foster, 23, were dusting kids’ lunches with melatonin.
First tipped off in 2023 by someone who had been in the daycare, the informant told officers about what they had been doing and the lack of parental consent. With multiple tips pouring in, the quartet turned themselves in, where they were cited and released. Now, they are awaiting a court day in June.
Heather Hamel, spokesperson for the Manchester Police Department, told WMUR, “They don’t know how these children may react to it. They don’t know if they have an allergic reaction or even worse.” Her comments about the incident underscore the major problem with the decision to drug these children, and it’s one any parent worth their salt would share.
Speaking with neighbors of the daycare, WMUR learned that nobody in the neighborhood had a clue that the house was a daycare in the first place. Given the charges they are facing, that’s not a giant surprise.
