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Grand Jury Indicts Daycare Operator Who Abandoned Children In Her Care

Jason Rojas
/
Flickr.com

A daycare provider in Bend faces 114 criminal counts after being accused of leaving toddlers and infants alone multiple times to visit a tanning salon and gym.

A grand jury indicted 31-year-old January Neatherlin for criminal mistreatment and reckless endangerment.   

January Neatherlin.

She was arrested last week after police found seven children alone in her home. 

Bend Police Lieutenant Jason Maniscalco told KLCC how parents reacted.  

“Obviously upset...probably feel betrayed," he says.  "They didn’t have a lot of idea this was going on.  It was a shock to everybody. 

"If people had lived nearby her or have any information about her daycare, we’d like to know.  Not only clients, but even people who just might know her, who’d have some information for us.” 

State records show Neatherlin's business, Little Giggles Daycare, was investigated twice since 2014 by child welfare advocates.

In both cases, she was found to be caring for more children than allowed without a license.  

Brian Bull is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Oregon, and remains a contributor to the KLCC news department. He began working with KLCC in June 2016.   In his 27+ years as a public media journalist, he's worked at NPR, Twin Cities Public Television, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Wisconsin Public Radio, and ideastream in Cleveland. His reporting has netted dozens of accolades, including four national Edward R. Murrow Awards (22 regional),  the Ohio Associated Press' Best Reporter Award, Best Radio Reporter from  the Native American Journalists Association, and the PRNDI/NEFE Award for Excellence in Consumer Finance Reporting.
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