Day Care Shuttered After Baby Bitten 27 Times

Parents say unlicensed Texas operator waited 4 hours to call them
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 1, 2015 8:46 AM CDT

When John and Jeanette Betancourt were alerted Friday that their 4-month-old son had been bitten at his San Antonio day care, Jeanette went to pick him up and noticed the day care operator was holding the infant close to her body. "She finally turns my son around and the first thing my wife notices is his legs," John Betancourt tells the Houston Chronicle, describing a horrific scene that involved not only bites on the baby's legs, but also on his eye area, cheeks, stomach, and back—27 bites in all by another child at the day care, KENS 5 reports. Now the state of Texas has shut down the in-home operation, which investigators say is unlicensed and has been in business for eight years, and the incident is being probed by the San Antonio PD to see if the operator could face charges.

The woman, who was found with eight children in her charge Monday when investigators showed up, told Jeanette Betancourt that although she heard the baby crying, she didn't think anything was wrong, per the paper. On Tuesday, the day care operator told KENS 5 that she called the parents minutes after realizing the baby had been bitten and that she wasn't aware she needed a license, saying, "Yesterday I found out." But the Betancourts tell KENS 5 that the woman waited four hours to call them (and only after the baby's wounds didn't fade), and John Betancourt tells the Chronicle, "When we went to her house to do the initial interview ... she showed us that she had a license"; he adds he wishes they'd confirmed that. Other parents who've sent their children to the day care tell KENS 5 they never had any issues. The baby, meanwhile, is healing and "doing fine now," the dad tells the Chronicle. (More day care stories.)

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