Tennessee child care director accused of locking 4-year-old child in bedroom alone
10/13/2023 1:49 pm PDT
FRANKLIN, Ky. (TCD) -- The parents of a 4-year-old child, one of whom runs a child care center, are facing nearly 200 criminal counts after officials found the juvenile locked in a bedroom alone.
According to a news release from the Simpson County Sheriff’s Office, on Thursday, Oct. 12, deputies responded to 4980 Springfield Road to perform a welfare check and found the child. Deputies learned the parents, 28-year-old Morgan Soper and 30-year-old Johnathon Jenkins, "had been leaving the child home alone throughout the day for quite some time."
Soper and Jenkins were booked into the Simpson County Detention Center and each charged with 89 counts of first-degree wanton endangerment, 89 counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, and one count of second-degree criminal abuse of a child 12 or under.
The Sheriff’s Office noted that Soper is the director of a child care center in Goodlettsville, Tennessee.
In a statement obtained by WSMV-TV, KinderCare, Soper’s place of work, said, "At KinderCare, nothing is more important to us than children’s safety. We take all concerns about the quality of our programs and our staff seriously. As soon as we heard this news, we placed Morgan Soper on administrative leave."
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