‘Absolutely traumatizing;’ Ohio daycare operator accused of causing physical harm to 10-month-old

DELEWARE COUNTY — An Ohio woman was arrested and charged after she was allegedly recorded on her in-home camera system causing physical harm to a 10-month-old girl who was under her care.

A complaint in the Delaware Common Pleas Court says Rhonda Coomes, 52, reportedly harmed the child by striking her multiple times in the face and nose area with the palm of her hand, our news partners at WBNS reported.

She also hit the child with a hard plastic diaper wipe container, the complaint states.

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The 10-month-old victim also endured physical harm when she was allegedly tossed landing on her back into a pack-and-play, WBNS reported. Court documents say the child had a black eye at the end of the day.

Prosecutors say the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office obtained nearly two months of videos recorded inside Coomes’ home, according to WBNS. After reviewing only a few days so far, Coomes is seen “cruelly abusing children in her home.”

Coomes is being held at the Delaware County Jail on a kidnapping charge and has a bond set at $500,000.

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Prosecutors say the charge in the complaint is only a placeholder, WBNS reported. Based on the videos reviewed so far, Coomes is likely to be charged with felonies relating to her alleged physical abuse of more than half a dozen children.

After learning about the investigation, a mother who used to send her children to the daycare told WBNS it is “traumatizing.”

“It is absolutely traumatizing, and I feel very violated not just for myself, but for my kids because she is who I trusted to watch them. I was a single mother at the time so while I was out working and my kids couldn’t be watched by anybody else, she was the woman that I trusted,” she said.

Prosecutors are requesting additional bond conditions including no contact with any of the families who used her day care services, no contact with minor children and electronically monitored house arrest, WBNS reported.

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