Daycare worker 'drugged' children with sleep aid melatonin to go tanning

A US daycare worker has been sentenced to 21 years in jail for ‘drugging’ young children with sleep supplements so she could go tanning.
 
January Neatherlin had been running an illegal child care business called Little Giggles from her house in Bends, Oregon for almost five years.
 
In that time, the 32-year-old had lied to parents about being a registered nurse, but had no qualifications in the field.
 
Neatherlin was arrested in March 2017, after Bends police received a tip-off about her behaviour from one of her former roommates and an ex-boyfriend.
 
During their surveillance, officers witnessed her leaving the house numerous times while seven children were in her care, The Oregonian reports.
 
In one instance, she drove her own children to school. Another time, she was found at a local tanning business.
 
The infants and toddlers she was supposed to be watching at the time - one of whom was just six months old - were found to have the sleeping aid melatonin in their systems.
 
Neatherlin reportedly told parents they couldn’t pick up their children during these periods because it was their “nap time”.
 
This wasn’t the only troubling incident to have taken place at Little Giggles.
 
According to The Bulletin, parents and grandparents claimed Neatherlin had ignored and abandoned their children during their time in her care. 
 
There were also reports of nappy rash and malnutrition.
 
Neatherlin was accused by some families of causing physical harm to children.
 
One girl had been “violently shaken”, her parents said during a hearing on Friday, while another baby was burned by scalding milk after Neatherlin overheated the bottle.
 
In February, Neatherlin pleaded guilty to 11 counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment and one count of third-degree assault. 
 
Last week, she was sentenced to 21 years and four months behind bars.
 
Prior to her sentencing, she offered a tearful apology to parents, grandparents and children that had attended the hearing, saying she had let them down.
 
“I loved all my day care kids as my own, and I believe they loved me and enjoyed hanging out with me … but I failed you all,” she told them.