A Windsor woman has been charged with larceny after police allege that she used state funding intended for a daycare in Hartford for her own personal use.
Carmen Santiago, 53, turned herself in on Monday on one count of first-degree larceny, according to Lt. Aaron Boisvert of the Hartford Police Department.
Boisvert said the arrest came following an investigation that was launched in January when the police department’s Fraud Division learned that a daycare provider had reportedly misused state funds. Grant money from the state of Connecticut intended for the Kids Creative Learning Center, LLC was instead allegedly used by Santiago to make “several high dollar purchases” for “personal use,” according to Boisvert.
Boisvert said investigators executed several search warrants during the investigation and allegedly found a “full accounting of the funds that were misused,” the records of which were used to obtain a warrant for Santiago’s arrest.
The Kids Creative Learning Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
This is not the first time the daycare has come under fire from authorities.
Last November, a video that surfaced on TikTok and other social media platforms showed a person at the learning center allegedly slapping the hand or wrist of a young girl sitting at a table away from her face and forcefully pushing her up against the backrest of the chair and moving the chair closer to the table.
“Sit at my table with your hands on your lap,” the unidentified person told the girl before sternly telling her to “sit down.”
The same person can be heard in another video telling a young girl, “Be afraid, be very afraid. But I still love you,” while another child is yelling or crying out.
The video, which was posted and re-posted by several individuals on social media, sparked investigations by the state Office of Early Childhood and the Department of Children and Families. A DCF spokesperson at the time said the agency would consult with Hartford police about potential criminal charges.
