Police: Chandler day-care workers made obscene Snapchat video

Chandler officers on Wednesday arrested two day-care workers suspected of making a video of themselves at a day-care center making obscene gestures in the presence of a child and posting it on social media, a police spokesman said. 

In the video, Gabriella Del Carmen Garcia, 25, is seen giving a sex toy to a child. Fatina Sawyer, 24, is accused of recording the incident. The video was posted to Snapchat on Monday, sparking an investigation. Police said Garcia turned herself into Chandler police and Sawyer was arrested by Mesa police.

A co-worker, Janae Peterson, 21, was booked into jail Tuesday night on suspicion of failure to report the incident. She has since been released.

Police said the video shows Garcia making obscene gestures with a sex toy and then handing it to a boy enrolled at Superkids day-care center, near Warner and Alma School roads. Police say Sawyer recorded the incident. 

It was unclear who uploaded the video to the Snapchat smartphone app. Police said someone reported the video, and officers began a criminal investigation on Monday.

Police have not detailed what charges they are pursuing against Garcia or Sawyer.

Someone at the day-care center emailed azcentral.com and The Arizona Republic a statement, which was also posted on the business Facebook page, that said the employees involved in the incident were fired. 

"It has been brought to our attention that some teachers behaved inappropriately yesterday at our child care center," the statement read. "We immediately contacted the police and state authorities about this incident. Police are currently investigating the incident and we will fully cooperate with them. We are in the process of informing the parents about the incident. The teachers involved in this incident have been terminated effective immediately."

On social media, the center has received backlash, with some people saying the business should be fined or shut down.

A Yelp user identified as Matthew P. wrote a review on Tuesday that he updated from his original three-star review to say that he was disgusted. In his original review from August, he said he took his daughter on Thursdays and Fridays. "Overall pretty good childcare at a good price."

But on Tuesday, he wrote a critical one-star review. 

"Updating my review because of a video that shows the staff being disgusting and playing with sex toys in front of children," he wrote. "This is after raising tuition. It is scary that they have this bad of a selection process."

Another user identified as Lizzie E. wrote a one-star review on Wednesday that the video was "ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING," adding, "This place needs to be shut down and these animals held accountable for their sickening behavior."

On the business' Facebook page, a user called Patricio Bedolla Gallegos wrote a comment saying, "With social media! We will make sure you won’t ever do this again! #shutdownsuperkidsdaycare."

The state Department of Health Services said officials have coordinated with police and will conduct its own investigation.

Nicole Capone, a spokeswoman for Health Services, said in an email that "based on the severity and scope of violations (the department) can either issue civil money penalties, suspend or revoke the license."

Since 2014, people have filed 11 reports of violations involving the day-care center, according to Health Services records. However, not all of the complaints have been substantiated.

The violations that the center was cited for vary from having a broken toy, not maintaining proper records, to employees working while being sick.

In one case, the center was cited for not having on record if an employee had a high-school diploma or a GED qualifying her as a teacher. This was eventually corrected, in September 2015, the records show. In another example, in June 2015, officials found out that an employee would take naps while that person was supposed to supervise a class. The records say this was corrected but it doesn't say how.

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