GRANADA HILLS : Day-Care Operator Charged With Locking Boy in Car
A Granada Hills woman who allegedly locked a boy in a car for four hours was charged Tuesday with child endangerment and running a child-care facility without a license, Los Angeles City Atty. James Hahn said.
Mary Anne Torres, 48, is accused of locking up a 4-year-old last October to discipline him for crying, and with continuing to operate Torres Family Day Care after losing her license in 1993.
Torres is scheduled to be arraigned April 4 on one count of operating an unlicensed day-care center and one count of child endangering under circumstances likely to produce great bodily harm and death.
She could be sent to jail for a year and fined up to $2,000 if convicted of the misdemeanors, Hahn said.
He said an investigation of Torres was begun in August after the Community Care License Division of the Department of Social Services received a complaint.
On Oct. 31, another woman complained that when she went to pick up her son at the facility, the boy was locked in a car in a dark garage.
Torres’ license was revoked for repeatedly ignoring restrictions on how many children she could keep, Hahn said.
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