Mesquite police arrested 60-year-old Rebecca Anderson Saturday for mistreating several children at Becky’s Home Child Care, a daycare she ran from her home in the 4300 block of Tamarix Court, according to an arrest warrant obtained by NBC 5.
A 60-year-old woman is under arrest, accused of unnecessarily medicating and restricting several North Texas children inside a home daycare in Mesquite, according to court documents obtained by NBC 5.
Rebecca Anderson was arrested Saturday, a day after police executed a search warrant at her home/daycare on the 4300 block of Tamarix Court and found nine children inside, some bound and restricted.
Police said after further investigation it was believed that Anderson not only mistreated the children, but evidence led investigators to believe she exposed them to unnecessary doses of over-the-counter medicine, extended periods of restricted movement and poor hygiene practices.
According to the arrest warrant, the father of a 6-month-old boy reviewed video on Thursday taken from a small camera that was mounted on the child's car seat. The video, police said, showed Anderson yank the boy out of the car seat, pick him up off the ground using the bib tied around his neck and feed him an "unknown substance using a plastic liquid syringe."
After the father showed the video to Mesquite police, detectives obtained a search warrant for Anderson's home. Inside the home, detectives found three children strapped to plastic car seats in a darkened master bedroom closet and one more in the master bathroom.
Anderson initially told police that there were just five children in the home before the four others were discovered, the warrant said.
Anderson also admitted "she had likely given Tylenol to all of the children," according to the warrant, and that she left the children in the car seats for as many as seven hours each day.
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The arrest warrant also said detectives found "shoelace-like ligatures" tied around the children's necks — and that some of the ties had to be cut off. Anderson admitted she tied the ligatures onto the children to limit their movement.
Anderson has been charged with nine counts of endangering a child and faces a $5,000 bond for each charge, according to online jail records. As of Tuesday morning, Anderson remains at the Dallas County Jail where she's being held on $45,000 bond.
It is not clear if Anderson has obtained an attorney, however her daycare was licensed by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
The investigation into the allegations is ongoing and "is a collaborative effort between multiple agencies and care providers," police said.
The Mesquite Police Department is working to identify other children cared for by Anderson. If you are a parent of a child that she cared for, please contact the Mesquite Police Department at 972-285-6336.
NBC 5's Vanessa Brown and Chris Blake contributed to this report.
