Baby left alone, locked inside day care

JOHNSTON, R.I. (WPRI) - A 9-month-old baby is left alone in a Johnston day care for nearly an hour and the day care claims it's all just a misunderstanding.

It was a mother's worst nightmare as she discovered her baby was locked inside a day care without supervision for 45 minutes. Johnston police say Julia Castillo went to pick up her 9-month-old son from My Special Place on Monday night, only to find the doors locked and no employee on duty.

"I don’t want to get into it because I don't want to point fingers if it was the mother's fault or if it was the employees fault. It happened. It was just a crazy mistake," said day care owner, Jessica Faiola.

Faiola did not comment on the details but says the situation was a big misunderstanding. A neighbor near the day care spotted Castillo growing anxious and climbed through a window to find the baby in a crib inside.

"I really don't want to get into it. It's kind of like a touchy subject with he said, she said. But, we're taking all the precautions," said Faiola.

Police say Castillo never signed the baby in that morning and that the last employee to leave overlooked him when doing a physical check of the building. Police have turned the case over to the Department of Children Youth and Families or DCYF for further investigation but say the child was never in any harm.

"Like I said it was an accident. Something happened and I'm taking all the precautions to make sure that it doesn’t happen again," said Faiola.

Police don’t expect to file any criminal charges against the day care and have no knowledge of any similar past incidents.