A 44-year-old day care worker in Texas has been arrested after she was allegedly caught on camera physically abusing multiple two-year-old children more than 100 times over the course of several months.
Catherine Guziejka was arrested last month and accused with six charges of intentionally injuring a child.
According to a probable cause document acquired by Tyler, Texas-based ABC affiliate KSLA, the several attacks occurred between July and October 2024 at the Punkin’ Doodles Day Care in Lindale, Texas, roughly 200 miles north of Houston.
The investigation began late last month, when a day care staffer reviewed security camera footage. During the review, the employee claimed to have seen Guziejka kick a 2-year-old boy in the lower back while he was on the floor.
On Oct. 23, the employee informed the victim’s father about the event, and the father immediately contacted the Smith County Sheriff’s Office to file a report.
Investigators then analyzed CCTV from the day care and discovered evidence that Guziejka physically assaulted six different 2-year-olds 134 times.
Many of the attacks on the children followed a similar pattern: the victim was watching TV when Guziejka approached them from behind and kicked them in the lower back with her right foot, according to Nacogdoches, Texas CBS and CW affiliate KYTX.
Other examples of abusive behavior seen on the video included Guziejka standing on the toddlers’ hands, forcibly moving them around in their sleep, and seizing a sleeping child by the arm and hauling them to a changing table.
When changing the children, Guziejka would forcibly push the victims’ heads down and force them to stare at the wall rather than the television on the opposite side of the room.
Melanie Dawn Law, the former proprietor of Punkin’ Doodles Day Care, reportedly inspected the security footage prior to speaking with authorities.
During her law enforcement interrogation, Law reportedly acknowledged that Guziejka had been hitting the children since July, with at least 100 individual cases of abuse discovered.
She stated that Guziejka, who was hired in September 2023, was fired immediately after the alleged assault was disclosed, and that all film demonstrating her claimed abuse was turned over to investigators.
Law told KSLA that since the abuse allegations surfaced, she has sold the day care center to a new owner, who plans to reopen in December under a new name.
Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith spoke with KLTV about the events surrounding Guziejka’s arrest and how they plan to proceed moving ahead. Smith said it was fortunate that none of the youngsters were significantly wounded by Guziejka, who only caused “minor to medium bruising” thus far.
“We have six charges that we believe can be proven in a court of law,” Smith told the broadcaster. “Now we’re going forward and detectives are combing through hours of video to see if there’s any other forms of abuse that have not been reported.”
Guziejka is presently being held at the Smith County Jail on a bond of $450,000, according to the sheriff’s office.