HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Surveillance video showing two Odessa daycare workers allegedly abusing children in their care was released by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday.
In the video, 28-year-old Tara Ballou can be seen roughly pulling off the clothes of one child and then forcing the child to lie on their stomach. At one point, the video shows what appears to be Ballou holding a child down with the weight of her leg.
The video also shows daycare co-owner Rong Liu, 51, having her leg across the back of a child who is profusely kicking underneath her.
The two employees were arrested for child abuse, but it’s been months since the initial allegation was reported. Ballou was arrested Tuesday but worked at Children’s Land of Imagination Academy until June 29.
The director and co-owner of the same daycare was also arrested for child abuse after authorities said Liu pulled a child's head and neck and put her legs on top of the child to hold them down. She was arrested Friday, but the alleged incident also happened back in June.
“I was contacted by a deputy,” Kelly Autrey said.
That’s how she found out her son was possibly abused in a case that law enforcement was investigating.
“It’s like every parent’s worst nightmare. My stomach fell to the floor,” Autrey added.
She said the call came in on June 28 after she dropped her son off at the daycare.
“I turned right around and picked him up from class,” the mother said.
According to Autrey, certain emails showed that she alerted the daycare the next day when she pulled her son out of class and was frustrated that she didn’t know about the allegations a week sooner when detectives first started investigating.
While Autrey said she was notified one week later, some parents are just finding out.
Mandy and Nick Richardson found out what was going on at their daughter's daycare after Autrey posted an inspection report on Facebook. It showed that an investigation was now open and that the owner of the facility wasn’t handing the surveillance video to authorities unless there was a court order.
"When we have to find out basic facts through a social media platform, that's unacceptable," Nick said. "Some type of alert system would be fantastic to just keep us in the know."
10 Tampa Bay contacted Hillsborough County Public Schools about the lack of communication towards parents regarding the investigation; the situation was down to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office to notify parents because it's the lead agency on child abuse investigations.
While the investigation is ongoing, law enforcement has increased the amount of time spent at the daycare but doesn’t have the authority to remove staff from their positions during an investigation.
“That’s not right,” Autrey said.
She also said if the county is in charge of licensing, closing or removing teachers from a facility, then it should be doing more to protect students
“They should be notifying parents immediately. Let us know what is going on. Our kids can’t speak for themselves. We have to be the one to do it for them,” Autrey said.
Here is the inspection report on Children’s Land of Imagination Academy.