A second Chaffee County daycare worker charged with child abuse after a pants-down incident in a room of preschoolers and toddlers will not go to trial.
The Colorado Sun reports that Chaffee County prosecutors yesterday filed a motion to drop the charge against Roberta Rodriquez, former director of The Schoolhouse in Poncha Springs. Rodirguez had been charged with failure to report child abuse after a 5-year-old boy at the center was accused of pulling down a classmate’s pants while the teacher stepped out of the room to start a load of laundry.
The turmoil caused her heart problems and anxiety, she said, and she went on multiple job interviews but did not get hired because of the pending child abuse charge. The case’s dismissal will help her begin to heal, she said.
Rodriguez told the Colorado Sun after the dismissal, “I’m overwhelmed. I kept playing it over and over in my head. I knew I did everything right. I knew I took care of the kids. I knew I took care of the staff. I knew I took care of the families.”
The teacher in the classroom on the day of the incident, Amy Lovato, was acquitted of similar charges in June after a jury deliberated for less than two hours.
