HALL COUNTY, Ga. -- The state ordered a daycare center to shut down on Friday, declaring that children there are in imminent danger.
The order stems from the Hall County Sheriff's investigation of the daycare, Discovering Basics, in Clermont, and the arrest, Friday, of one of the daycare center's teachers on a felony charge of child cruelty.
It's the latest in the case of a Hall County toddler who was severely burned last week.
On Friday, sheriff's investigators backed up the mom's story that the child was burned while he was at the daycare the previous Friday, June 13.
But other parents who support Discovering Basics and believe in the staff are accusing the mom of harming her own child and then blaming it on the daycare.
For sheriff's investigators, there is no doubt about what happened to 16-month-old Damon Gaddis, and where it happened to him.
"These injuries did occur at the daycare," said Hall County Sheriff's Deputy Nicole Bailes, "And, more specifically, they occurred shortly after he arrived at the daycare" that morning.
Damon somehow suffered second- and third-degree burns, from scalding water. He is facing multiple surgeries.
At about 12:30 Friday, June 20, the Sheriff arrested Damon's teacher, Eddye Pittmon, 55, accusing her of one felony count of child cruelty in the first degree for not getting Damon treatment for the burns right away -- or ever.
Deputy Bailes said the investigation is not over, and other employees at the daycare may also be arrested and charged for not intervening, and for telling Damon's mother when she picked him up that evening that he'd had an allergic reaction to a bug bite.
"He actually spent roughly eight hours in the condition that he was in prior to getting medical treatment by his mother," after she picked him up, Bailes said. "He suffered for several hours" at the daycare that day.
The Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning issued an order Friday evening to shut down the daycare, saying children there are in imminent danger.
Under state law, the daycare has 48 hours – in this case, until Tuesday, June 24 -- to issue a notice of appeal, and, if it does appeal, the daycare may remain open during the appeal.
The attorney for Discovering Basics, Jim Walters of Gainesville, did not return a message from 11Alive News Friday seeking comment.
Brad Clark's two daughters, ages 2 and 5, attend Discovering Basics. Eddye Pittmon is their teacher. Clark is convinced that Damon's mother, Megan Seabolt, injured her son and is blaming the daycare, and he believes the investigation will clear Pittmon.
"She's always treated them great, she's always been very competent, safe," Clark said Friday. "If something happened to my girls, she was always the first one to notify me…There's a lot of stuff that just doesn't add up."
Megan Seabolt told 11Alive News on Tuesday that she understands she's under investigation, too. She declined to comment Friday, except to say, in her words, she's glad that justice is being done and that the Sheriff is getting to the truth of what happened.
Eddye Pittmon was scheduled for a first court appearance before a Hall County Magistrate Judge on Saturday.
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