North Alabama daycare worker arrested after center’s closing
Guntersville police have arrested an employee of a daycare that has closed following an investigation by the Marshall County District Attorney’s Office.
According to police, Erin Grace Miller was arrested Wednesday and bonded out of Guntersville City Jail for an undisclosed amount.
Police said the arrest came following a report filed May 3 with Guntersville police against an employee of Kids Korner Daycare for harassment.
On Tuesday, District Attorney Jennifer Bray said in a statement that her office had shared the findings of its investigation into allegations by a former daycare employee with the board of directors of First Methodist Church of Guntersville, where the daycare was located.
The office said it found evidence that two current employees at the daycare were “violating Alabama law in their interactions with children.” After sharing the information with parents, a warrant for harassment had been issued against one worker.
The investigation also revealed evidence of past violations of Alabama’s mandatory reporter law, but the statute of limitations had passed, according to the office.
Michael Wilder, the executive pastor and director of student ministries at Guntersville First Methodist Church, released a statement:
“We are shocked, devastated, grieved, and a wave of numerous other emotions over the situation. We are beyond grateful to District Attorney Bray and her entire team for the work that they did during this investigation, including doing so with speed. We fully understood the strain and difficulty of our decision to close at end of business Friday, but once we attained knowledge of the findings of the investigation, we knew the appropriate action in the best interest of the children was to close as soon as possible.
“Personally, I am furious that any child was ever treated in a way that is below the standards of Christ, much less below the standards of Alabama state law. My daughter is a child in the Crawler Room. While her teachers were and are amazing, had I known about the findings prior to the investigation I can assure you my daughter would not have attended. Even as a parent without a plan for my daughter on Monday, I thank the Board of Directors of our church for taking swift action regarding the District Attorney’s findings.”
Any parents whose children attended Kids Korner who have questions or concerns were asked to call the DA’s office at (256) 582-8113.