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Women Charged in Connection With South Windsor Day Care Abuse Allegations Appear in Court

Three of the four women facing charges connected to abuse allegations at a South Windsor day care appeared in court Thursday.

People who identified themselves as parents of the victims stood outside the Manchester Superior Court House. They wanted to get a message out, but declined to speak on camera.

Three women facing charges in connection with abuse at Mother Goose Day Care Center in South Windsor went before a judge.

Day care owner Marjorie Glater, and two other supervisors, Nicole Moriarty and Brandy Novack, each pleaded not guilty to one charge of failing as a mandated reporter to report suspected abuse.

According to court papers, they were aware that former teacher, 25-year-old Ashley Swietek, was rough with children.

Court documents also state that police said Swietek, who was the head teacher of the Cheerios classroom for 12- to 18-month-olds, is accused of pushing kids, yelling at them, and withholding food.

In one case, a teacher told police she saw Swietek “pick up a toddler and slam him into a wall, causing him to hit his head.”

In another instance, investigators said Swietek used her legs and arms to pin down a toddler on a cot to get them to take a nap.

Swietek is facing three counts of risk of injury to a child and is due back in court next week. NBC Connecticut reached out to her attorney, who had no comment.

Mother Goose Children’s Center is still open. Marjorie Glater is no longer involved in the day-to-day operations of the day care. She has voluntarily surrendered her license and is in the process of transferring ownership of the business by the end of September.

NBC Connecticut spoke to the attorney representing Glater and Novack outside court.

“This was a matter that was handled administratively by the regulators of the child care center. It was handled efficiently and effectively and to criminalize it is a gross overreaction,” said defense attorney Kevin Rennie.

Moriarty’s attorney Anthony Spinella sent us a statement that said, “My client was minimally involved and she was not alleged to have done any of the alleged child abuse.”

Their next court date is in September.

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