2 charged after raid on home day care in Dover yields gun, drugs; 4 kids in care at time
Update: This story was updated to remove a video about a 2019 incident at another day care with a similar name.
A Thursday afternoon raid of a home child care center in Dover yielded guns, drugs and thousands of dollars in cash, the city's Police Department said.
Members of Dover Police Department's Drugs, Vice and Organized Crime unit raided the home just before 12:30 p.m. as part of an ongoing drug investigation, police said in a Friday afternoon news release. Four children were being cared for at the time of the search.
Two people, a 33-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman, were charged as a result. The man later admitted to dealing drugs out of the home, court documents obtained by Delaware Online/The News Journal show.
The day care center, The Little Peoples LFCC 2, was formed as a Delaware limited liability company in March 2022, according to state business records.
The woman who was charged on Thursday is the company's registered agent. Delaware Department of Education records show it's classified as a "licensed large family child care" that can serve up to 12 toddler through school-aged children.
Why raid the home?
According to court documents, police executed the search warrant days after a detective who was surveilling the street saw the man "conduct what appeared to be a hand-to-hand drug transaction" with another person.
When that person was stopped, they told police that the man had sold them heroin.
Based on that arrest, court documents say, detectives obtained a search warrant for the home, located at 118 Roosevelt Ave. The man was not home at the time of the raid, but the woman was.
In total, officers found two guns, 93 grams of powder cocaine, 26 grams of crack cocaine, 302 bags of heroin and more than $32,200. The woman also had five doses of "suspected MDMA" when she was arrested.
The kids who were being cared for at the time of the raid "were turned over to their guardians," police said.
The man is being held at Sussex Correctional Institution on numerous gun and drug charges, while the woman posted $49,700 secured bond Friday morning, court records show.
She was also charged with gun and drug crimes.
What we know about the day care
According to Department of Education records, the child care center has been operating since at least 2021. The first compliance review was on March 16 of that year, when an Office of Child Care Licensing employee found it to be "non-compliant" in four areas.
The issues noted by the inspector included: "trash and debris" in an outdoor play area; non-documentation of fire prevention inspections and evacuation drills; use of a non-approved OCCL vehicle to transport children; and a lack of a state business license.
These were all listed as "corrected."
The facility was again inspected six months later, in September 2021. That time, a licensing employee told the owners to repair a gate to ensure it self-closes and self-latches, ensure annual inspections of fire extinguishers and ensure the license renewal application is submitted 60 days before it expires.
It's unclear if the renewal referred to the state of Delaware business license or the license to operate a child care center.
In September 2022, another inspection was completed. This time, inspectors found several indoor and outdoor repairs needed to be made, the license renewal again needed to be submitted at least 60 days before expiration and several other minor issues. Like before, these were later listed as "corrected."
The most recent inspection was Sept. 6, 2023, when an inspector again noted that outside gates needed to self-close and self-latch. That was corrected on Sept. 21, records show.
Only two other issues were found during that inspection: Two children did not have blood lead screening results in their files and one didn't have a health appraisal or immunization record, and the owners were asked to update the parent handbook to include an updated release of children policy.
These were listed as "corrected" on Sept. 20.
Got a tip? Send to Isabel Hughes at ihughes@delawareonline.com or 302-324-2785. For all things breaking news, follow her on X at @izzihughes_
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This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Dover home day care raid yields guns, drugs; 4 kids in care at time
