Kansas City area day-care worker kicked, slammed and threw infants, court records say
A 24-year-old woman faces felony charges after she allegedly kicked, hit, smacked, slammed and threw infant children less than 1 year of age while working for a Johnson County day care in March.
Rachel Beth Schrader, of Kansas City, Kansas, faces four felony counts of child abuse. She has been placed on house arrest as the case moves through the court.
According to court records in Johnson County, staff working for the day care saw a baby had been injured somehow in the day care and an internal investigation was started. They later watched cameras posted in some of the day-care rooms to see what happened.
In one case, court records say, Schrader waited for another worker to leave the room before walking over to a child and kicking him square in the chest, causing him to fall backward and smack his head.
In another instance, she allegedly yanked an infant up by the arm to the chair she was sitting in, smacked the child on the leg when the child wouldn’t take a bottle, and tossed the child off her lap allowing the baby to land face-first on the floor.
On another occasion, she was seen “violently putting a child on the floor” with one arm before kicking him in the head with her left foot. And on yet another she kicked, slapped and pushed a baby to the floor while the baby was struggling with a bottle and then smothered him with a bib for a few seconds. She then was seen kicking and slamming a child onto the floor until he began to scream and cry.
Aside from the physical abuse, investigators said Schrader ignored the small children to answer her phone. Schrader was fired and the police were called after the staff saw the footage, court records say.
The court records did not list the name of the day-care facility.
Investigating officers reported seeing roughly 170 times where Schrader abused infants between March 2 and March 26. All were captured on video, court records say.
In an interview with police, Schrader allegedly admitted to “losing her patience” during one recorded incident that prompted police to investigate. She told them it was the first and only time, according to court records.
Schrader was arrested June 3 and bonded out the following day, court records show.
