Inset: Katelyn Strohacker (Licking County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The Over the Rainbow Children Center in Pataskala, Ohio, where Katelyn Strohacker allegedly restrained a 1-year-old child using painter’s tape (Google Maps).
An Ohio daycare worker allegedly used “painter’s tape” to cover the eyes, feet, and hands of a 1-year-old girl — tying her arms behind her back and both legs together — before leaving the child “face down under a blanket unattended,” as reported by the authorities.
Katelyn Strohacker, aged 23, has been charged with child endangerment related to the incident on July 21 at Over the Rainbow Children’s Center in Pataskala, according to a criminal complaint filed in Licking County last week.
The complaint accuses Strohacker of using the tape to “administer corporal punishment or another physical disciplinary method” and “physically restrain the child cruelly.” The child’s mother reported to police on August 7 after being informed by Jamie Schoelkopf, the day care center’s director, about the alleged situation.
According to the mother, Strohacker “bound and left [her daughter] in a bed for an hour” on that day after encasing her in the tape. The investigation indicated that Strohacker allegedly taped the child’s eyes, bound her hands behind, and taped her feet together, then left her face down covered by a blanket.
“The defendant was subsequently interviewed and admitted to doing this and [to] doing this on more than one occasion,” the complaint says.
Strohacker was apprehended and subsequently released on a $50,000 surety bond. She is banned from having any unsupervised interactions with minors and is set to attend a preliminary hearing on August 28.
The Over the Rainbow Children’s Center did not respond to Law&Crime’s requests for comment on Thursday. It provided a statement to local CBS affiliate WBNS, saying safety was the “top priority,” the outlet reports.
“We became aware of an incident with a former employee, the day care said. “As a result of the incident, both the employee and supervisor have been terminated. We have been in contact with the family of the child involved and reported the incident to authorities.”
