The case against a former Sweet Angels Daycare employee will be going to trial.
Savannah Huntington, daughter of the daycare chain owner Kelly Doel, has a trial date set for March 24 in North Tonawanda City Court. She is facing three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, a class A misdemeanor.
It will be determined on the day of the trial whether it will be by jury or by judge. Huntington, represented by Frank LoTempio III, was not given a chance to enter a not-guilty plea.
Mallory Bumpers-Wojewoda, whose daughter had attended the Sweet Angels Newfane location, said this is a step in the right direction for the children involved and to hold the center staff accountable.
“There are more children out there,” said Bumpers-Wojewoda, who was at city court Wednesday with six other parents of children who were abused at the daycare. “We feel the need to help all these other parents.”
The families are represented by Niagara County Assistant District Attorney Liesel Marcantonio.
There is an order of protection for one of the children against Huntington issued this past October still in place.
The Sweet Angels location at 1307 Erie Ave. in North Tonawanda closed on May 10 last year after the North Tonawanda police began investigating with the Niagara County District Attorney’s Office, county Child Protective Services, county Child Advocacy Center, and New York Office of Children and Family Services.
That investigation followed a complaint lodged against Sweet Angels on May 2, resulting in OFCS citing the company for several violations, including the use of corporal punishment by staff.
A description of the violation stated, “punishment inflicted directly on the body including, but not limited to, physical restrain, spanking, biting, shaking, slapping, twisting or squeezing; demanding excessive physical exercise, prolonged lack of movement or motion, or strenuous or bizarre postures; and compelling a child to eat or having the child’s mouth soap, foods, hot spices or irritants or the lake.”
Three employees from Sweet Angels’ closed Newfane location had faced similar charges of endangering the welfare of a child last year, though they took plea deals, reducing those charges.
Sweet Angels’ two other locations, both in Lockport, are still open.