Inset: Catherine Guziejka (Smith County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The day care where she allegedly abused multiple infants (KLTV).
A 45-year-old day care worker in Texas has pleaded guilty to abusing several toddlers more than 100 times over the course of several months.
On Tuesday, Catherine Guziejka admitted to six counts of injuring a child with the intention of causing harm, according to court documents. As reported by local ABC station KLTV, her lawyers are requesting a 10-year sentence for each charge, to run at the same time. Her sentencing is scheduled for November 12.
A probable cause document accessed by Tyler ABC affiliate KSLA revealed that the series of assaults occurred between July and October 2024 at Punkin’ Doodles Day Care in Lindale, Texas, approximately 200 miles from Houston.
The investigation began in October 2024 when a daycare employee reviewed security footage from the center. In the review, the employee reportedly observed Guziejka kicking a two-year-old boy in the back while the child was on the ground.
The employee informed the child’s father about the incident on October 23, 2024, who then promptly reported it to the Smith County Sheriff’s Office.
Upon further examination of the daycare’s footage, investigators claimed to find proof that Guziejka physically attacked six different two-year-olds a total of 134 times.
Most of these assaults involved scenarios where the child was watching television, and Guziejka would approach from behind to kick them in the lower back with her right foot, as reported by local CBS and CW station KYTX.
Other examples of abusive behavior that investigators reported seeing multiple times on the footage included Guziejka standing on the toddlers’ hands, aggressively moving them around in their sleep, and grabbing a sleeping child by the arm and dragging them to changing tables.
When changing the children, Guziejka would also regularly force the children to stare at the wall instead of the television on the opposite side of the room by aggressively holding the victims’ heads down.
Melanie Dawn Law, the former owner of Punkin’ Doodles Day Care, reportedly reviewed the security footage before speaking to police. During her law enforcement interview, Law reportedly confirmed that Guziejka had been assaulting the children since July with at least 100 different instances of abuse being uncovered. She said Guziejka — who was initially hired in September 2023 — was fired immediately after the abuse was revealed and all of the footage depicting the abuse was then turned over to investigators.
Law spoke to KSLA and said that since the revelations of abuse came to light, she has sold the day care facility to a new owner who is going to reopen in December under a new name.
Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith told KLTV it was fortunate that none of the children were seriously injured by Guziejka, saying it has been limited to “minor to medium bruising.”
