Daycare center owner accused of drugging children for 'naptime'

The owner of a Van Alstyne, Texas daycare center has been accused of drugging children by putting antihistamines in their food so they would fall asleep after lunch, and nap.

Kimberly Lane is the owner of the Luv N Learning daycare. She was arrested and charged with 16 counts of child endangerment after an unidentified employee of the daycare center, who called authorities and said Lane was mixing an over-the-counter antihistamine with milk and then giving it to children at her center. In addition, the arrest warrant cites physical abuse that many of the children allegedly suffered at Lane's hands.

The investigation is being conducted by Child Protective Services and the Van Alstyne, Texas, Police department

At the time of Lane's arrest, officials said 15 children were using the daycare; they ranged in age from 20 months to just over 4 years old. The doors of Luv N Learning were open on Thursday, but instead of children, concerned parents were picking up their kids' belongings.

Lane allegedly crushed capsules in paper towels and mixed them into the milk around 10:40 a.m. daily. The milk, known as "special milk," was served at 11 a.m. to make the children go to sleep. Investigators are trying to determine how long Lane had been doling out her mix.

Court documents also allege that Lane slapped children in the face and would punish them by turning down the air conditioning or taking away their blankets. Lane was issued a license to run the Luv N Learning daycare on June 2, 2010. Since then, the daycare has been inspected seven times and three deficiencies were reported, all on Dec. 16, 2010.

The deficiencies were all relatively minor. They were for staff records not having a signed affidavit, the director missing two of the required 20 hours of annual training and for one out of four children's records not having the required hearing and vision testing. However, All of the deficiencies were corrected before the end of 2010.

You can watch a local TV station's video report below.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

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