CAPE CORAL, Fla. -- Roietta Plazewski, a Cape Coral resident who worked at Cape Child Development Center near the Cape Coral Hospital was arrested Tuesday afternoon on felony charges of child abuse and cruelty.
67-year-old Plazewski was fired last Thursday when the center's director first learned of the alleged abuse that happened in December.
The police report states on December 7th Plazewski grabbed a young girl by the hair and a young boy by the throat while walking the kids in from playing outside.
The co-worker who witnessed the incident had only worked at the center for 2 days and confronted Plazeswki who responded, "It's so hard to work with kids."
The center's director contacted Cape Coral police January 23rd, more than 1 month after the alleged abuse, upon learning of the incident after another employee who witnessed the alleged attack told the director she was quitting, stating the incident was one of the reasons why.
Plazewski was fired and Cape Coral police arrested her Tuesday at her home and informed the children's parents about the abuse arrest. Both families wish to press charges against her.
Plazewski bonded out of the Lee County Jail Wednesday afternoon. FOX 4 tried asking Plazewski for comment outside her home Wednesday but her husband drove her into their garage and shut the door.
The director of media relations for Lee Health says the witness reported the incident last week. She provided us this statement:
"The safety and protection of each child enrolled in our day care program is our number one priority. Unfortunately, a situation recently arose in which an employee exhibited inappropriate behavior. When the situation was brought to our attention, we immediately launched an internal investigation and the staff member’s employment was terminated. Our policy is to care for the children in our daycares in a loving and compassionate manner. Every staff member is trained on techniques to focus on the positive aspects of a child’s actions. Our standards for employee behavior are high and we will not tolerate conduct that violates the trust of those in our care."
