3 employees charged after baby found alone in locked Feltonville daycare

Three daycare center workers accused of closing early and leaving a 6-month-old baby girl alone are facing criminal charges, authorities said Tuesday.

The child’s father found the doors to New Arisens Childcare Solutions, on the 4400 block of Whitaker Avenue in Feltonville, locked when he arrived to pick her up Feb. 1, investigators wrote in an affidavit of probable cause. Officers, after attempting to contact the owner, forcibly entered and found the baby by herself in the dark, according to police.

She was taken to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, but medical staff determined that she had not suffered any injuries, the affidavit says. The case received significant coverage on local television news.

Detectives from the PPD’s Special Victims Unit determined that three New Arisens employees – Gabriela Rivas, 35, Sydia Thomas-Ishman, 23, and Janae Smith, 22 – allegedly closed the center early and locked up without properly checking to see if any children remained inside the facility.

All three have been charged in recent days with child endangerment and conspiracy. The public defender’s office, which is representing Thomas-Ishman and Smith, did not respond to a request for comment. No defense counsel is listed on court documents for Rivas.

Rivas and Thomas-Ishman were released on $25,000 unsecured bond, while Smith posted 10% of her $100,000 bail, according to court records.