Child care center worker pleaded guilty to abuse; 2nd worker also faces charges
One of two former child care workers in Yuma embroiled in a child abuse case pleaded guilty to child abuse after she was seen roughly handling 1-year-old children at a day care center at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.
Valerie McKinstry, 29, pleaded guilty earlier this month to two counts of felony child abuse and 11 counts of modified child endangerment, misdemeanors, according to court documents. She originally faced 13 child abuse charges.
Katherine McCombs, 29, another former staff member at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma’s Child Development Center also faces similar charges.
According to court documents, from December 2020 to March 2021, McKinstry was seen doing various actions that were considered child abuse or child endangerment.
Court documents revealed she yanked children causing them to fall or bump against furniture, grabbed a child’s wrist, arms and legs suddenly and violently; and pulled a child off his feet by yanking his arms.
She was also seen carrying a child by his wrists, dragging and throwing a child by his arms, and shoving a child’s chair in with such force that his body hit the table. Court documents said she also hit a child in the face with a toy or other object, and push and pulled on a child’s head, among other abusive treatment.
McKinstry is scheduled for a sentencing hearing at 8:30 a.m. on May 10.
All the children were 1 year old at the time of the abuse.
McCombs, the other child care provider facing charges for alleged abuse, is charged with seven counts of child abuse for similar actions which spanned from December 2020 to February 2021, according to court documents. She pleaded not guilty in February 2022 and has a change of plea hearing scheduled at 8:30 a.m. on June 15.
Abuse of the children was discovered by an assistant trainer who “identified an inappropriate interaction of a direct care staff member,” at the Child Development Center, said Capt. Brett Vannier a spokesperson for the Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.
The assistant notified the management team, who along with subject matter experts reviewed closed circuit television footage and notified local authorities, Vannier wrote in an email.
During the investigation, the Yuma Marine Corps Air Station also reviewed approximately 20 hours of random video samples from each of the other classrooms to make sure the abuse was not a systemic problem within the Child Development Center, he said.
He noted that the center has added an additional monitoring requirement for all classrooms that is now a permanent internal policy at the Yuma Marine Corps Air Station.
“Live and recorded video feed from each classroom is monitored every week, at unannounced times, by curriculum specialists and trainer assistants, with additional reviews conducted by the Child & Youth Program leadership to ensure that the quality of care meets the high standards we demand,” he wrote.
Vannier said Child Development Center staff also have implemented additional requirements for staff, including conducting a mandatory child care training refresher of 26 different subjects including developmentally appropriate practices, appropriate touch policy and procedures, child safety, and more.
Coverage of southern Arizona on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is funded by the nonprofit Report for America in association with The Republic.
Reach the reporter at sarah.lapidus@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Child care worker pleads guilty to abuse; 2nd faces charges in Yuma
