Jersey City daycare worker sentenced to 5 years in prison for child endangerment

By Patrick McGovern | The Jersey Journal
on November 14, 2014 at 1:10 PM

The former Jersey City daycare worker who was caught on tape abusing children last year was sentenced to five years in state prison this morning in Hudson County Superior Court.

Ann Bactawar, 27, of Jersey City was sentenced for three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and six months for two counts of simple assault. The three five-year sentences and two six-month sentences will all be served concurrently.

?She should be shamed,? Judge Martha Royster said as she handed down the sentence to Bactawar, who was caught on tape abusing children at Sunnyside Academy in Port Liberte in April 2013, authorities said.

Read more:
http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... sentenced_to_5_years.html

Jersey City day care center where 4 have been charged with child abuse has closed

Link to Story

The Jersey City day care center where four employees have been arrested and charged with child abuse apparently has been closed.

The lights inside Sunnyside Academy, located in Jersey City's Port Liberte section, were off and much the equipment, such as chairs and toys, were neatly tucked away this morning.

Efforts to reach management, both by phone and in person at the day care, were unsuccessful. A real estate agent in Port Liberte and a resident there said that the day care center closed about a week ago.

The investigation into the day care center first began on April 29, when parents picking up their 19-month-old son from Sunnyside discovered that the boy's face was bruised and his lip swollen. The boy's father was then shown video that he says shows an employee from Sunnyside upending the boy from a box he was standing on.

That employee, Ann Bactawar, 26, of Jersey City, was charged with two counts of child abuse and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child on May 1.

Sunnyside Academy, May 2013Sunnyside Academy, located in Port Liberte, has been the center of a child abuse scandal that came to light in April.Jersey Journal file photo

Since then, Young Cha, 29, of Belleville, Annette Rocker, 69, of Palisades Park, and Sutapa Aditya, 41, of Jersey City, have all been charged with child abuse for incidents police say occurred inside the day care.

Cha was charged with slapping a 17-month-old boy on May 9. Rocker was charged with hitting and slapping a 2-year-old on May 23 and Aditya was charged two days ago with pulling a 2-year-old boy across the floor by his hair, authorities said.

Hudson County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Gene Rubino said that the office is sifting through hours of videotape in its investigation and that the day care's closure "has no bearing" on the continuing investigation.

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My understanding (I could be wrong) is that the sex offender registry had more to do with crimes associated with sexual abuse or of a sexual nature, whereas physical abuse / assualt on children not associated with sex is another matter - It would be more likely under the banner of domestic violence or simply assualt on a minor which I believe should be made a much more serious offence, as a child has no defence and society should be aware of individuals who physically harm them - I would not be happy if a family member of school age had a crossing supervisor at their school with a history of child abuse or on the sex offender registry ... however this could only be me with this mind-set or point of view

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Isn't that what the sex offender registry does already?

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Imagine if they get a job as a private babysitter with no-one watching them and/or behind closed doors in their home if they have children?: The likelihood of them getting another job in the childcare industry is zero, but it will not prevent them from working privately. There has been too many horror stories about childcare workers abusing kids under their charge or their own.

There should be a zero tolerance to child abuse. This is a particularly heinous crime as it was in a controlled environment with legislation dictating how to care for kids with specific expectations and rules for staff on what they can and can not do when caring for kids.

We will never know their history of child abuse if convicted - Police should investigate if their employment history has any mention of working at other childcare centers / babysitting roles or any contact with kids - I have little belief that this was a one time offence

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LMFAO! I've got a logical idea. How about their children become wards of the state?

When convicted they should never be allowed to work with any children and be put on a register (like the sex offenders register) with a photo and information detailing their crime. If they have children, they should be monitored from time to time to insure that they aren't abusive to their own kids

They're there. Maybe you need to be logged in. Bacatwar changed her name to Shabs N Moore after I first posted it a couples months ago.

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[quote]
jerseymom wrote:
And another...this just keeps getting more tragic with every turn of the story. Is this place still opened?

Story & Photo - From NJ.com

I believe there was another story about this place losing its state operating license after the first two people were arrested, so I would doubt it.

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Interesting...unless your links are broken, both pages are now gone.

I can't imagine the impulses the parents of these children must feel toward these monsters. Here are 2 of their facebook profiles.

Sutapa Aditya
https://www.facebook.com/sutapa.aditya.7

Ann Bacatwar
https://www.facebook.com/ann.bactawar/about

what a classy place ...

And another...this just keeps getting more tragic with every turn of the story. Is this place still opened?

Story & Photo - From NJ.com

A daycare center in Jersey City's Port Liberte is in hot water again today after a fourth employee has been accused of abusing a child in her care.

Sutapa Aditya, 41, of Jersey City, a teacher's aide at Sunnyside, was arrested this morning at her home by Hudson County Prosecutor's Office officers. Aditva is charged with endangering the welfare of a child and child abuse.

Aditya is accused of repeatedly assaulting a 24-month-old boy by dragging him across a room by his hair, pushing him to the ground by the back of his head and slapping him on his arms, legs and chest in late April, according to a criminal complaint.

Aditya appeared in person today at Central Judicial Processing court before Judge Margaret Marley, who set Aditya's bail at $50,000.

Aditya is the fourth employee from Sunnyside charged with abusing kids at the Port Liberte daycare center.

On April 30, Sunnyside aide Ann Bactawar, 26, of Jersey City, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of child abuse after authorities said video surveillance inside the daycare showed Bactawar pushing a boy from a box he was standing on, sending him crashing to the floor.

On May 9, a second employee, Young Cha, 29, of Bellville, was charged with slapping a 17-month-old boy. On May 23, Annette A. Rocker, 69, of Palisades Park, was accused of hitting and slapping a 2 year old.

A woman who answered the phone at Sunnyside this afternoon said she didn't know anything about the new charges and hung up the phone.

Aditya has been ordered to have no contact with the alleged victim or with any minors.

Those poor little kids.

Woman, 69, is third employee of Jersey City daycare arrested on abuse charges

Yet another employee of the Sunnyside Academy daycare center in Jersey City has been arrested on charges of abusing children at the facility at the upscale Port Liberte development.

Annette A. Rocker, 69, of Palisades Park, was arrested yesterday and is the third employee of the daycare to be charged this month, Hudson County Prosecutor?s Office Assistant Prosecutor Gene Rubino said last night.

Jersey Journal

$50,000 Bail for Port Liberte Daycare Worker - More Charges

A teacher's aide employed at Sunnyside Academy child-care center in Jersey City was in court again, this time via video link from Hudson County jail on additional charges of mistreating children at the facility.

The aide, Young Cha, 29, of Belleville, was re-arrested shortly after her appearance in court Friday afternoon after new charges were brought against her, authorities state.

Cha, who posted bail on the initial charges of endangering the welfare of a child and child abuse involving a 17-month-old did not post bail on the new charges and was being held at Hudson County jail.

Cha appeared in Central Judicial Processing court this afternoon on charges involving an 18-month-old child and a 2-year-old child and allegations involving "slapping, yanking, pushing or dragging" the children authorities state.

Cha's new bail has been set at $50,000 cash or bond. Cha sat quietly at the interview room at the jail only talking once when her name was called.

Authorities charged Cha after reviewing video footage taken inside the facility and continued review of the video led to the four additional charges filed against her.

A phone message left at Sunnyside seeking comment was not immediately returned.

The investigations began on April 29 when a Jersey City couple picked up their 19-month-old son from the daycare and found his face bruised and lip swollen.

The next day, the boy's father went to the Port Liberte facility and, with an administrator, watched a video of Ann Bactawar, 26, of Jersey City allegedly upending the boy from a box he was standing on.

Bactawar was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of child abuse, officials said.

From NJ.com

Quote:The sad truth is that they typically pay the teachers a bit above minimum wage. And at $7.25/hr, you can hardly make a living. The childcare (or toddler warehousing business) is immensely profitable. You charge $1k/month per kiddo, have 40 kids and pay $15k/months in comp. And even if you spend another $15k on rent and other expenses, you have $10k over to pay the lease on your beemer .... sunnyside is not the only place in JC that is run under these premises ... so, parents beware ... ask what car the teachers drive ....

Looks like there will be a nicely sized storefront available for rent in Port Liberte real soon...

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... loyee_at_jersey_city.html

http://newjersey.news12.com/news/seco ... y-1.5232603?firstfree=yes

Somebody finally posted a comment on the Yelp page too.

I would be spending the rest of my life in jail if anyone was to lay a hand on my son.

Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal
A second employee of Sunnyside Academy child care center in Jersey City's Port Liberte has been charged with abusing a child entrusted to the care of the establishment, officials said.

Young Cha, 29, of Belleville, was arrested today by officers of the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office's Special Victims Unit and charged with endangering the welfare of a child and child abuse, an official said.

On April 29, Sunnyside employee Ann Bactawar, 26, of Jersey City, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of child abuse, officials said.

SVU detectives working on the Bactawar case are in possession of a large amount of digitally recorded video from security cameras in the daycare. Continued viewing of the video led to the charges against Cha, who is accused of slapping a 17-month-old boy, according to the criminal complaint.

On the 29th, a Jersey City couple was shocked when they picked up their 19-month-old son from the daycare and found his face bruised and lip swollen.

The next day the boy's father went to the academy and with an administrator, watched video of Bactawar allegedly upending the boy from a box he was standing on, sending the child crashing to the floor where he smashed his face. The video also shows Bactawar allegedly physically abusing a 16-month old boy.

Bactawar's bail was set at $100,000 and she quickly posted. Cha apparently posted bail as well because an official at the Hudson County jail in Kearny said she was not being housed there this evening. Cha was arrested at her home, an official said.

The Jersey Journal was informed this evening of Cha's arrest by the parent of a child at the daycare.

A phone message left at Sunnyside seeking comment this evening was not immediately

https://www.facebook.com/ann.bactawar?fref=ts

Updated

Bail Set at 100K


http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... html#incart_river_default

The Latest info

Shocking she has a criminal record for assault. WTF!!! the director should be fired!!!!!!!!

Not sure but maybe,

https://www.facebook.com/ann.bactawar?fref=ts

Disgusting! It's hard to understand how the other workers wouldn't see this. Most daycare centers have many workers watching the kids at the same time.
Someone should drop her off a box and drag her by the arm.

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+1

If I were a parent of one of the victims, I would be sitting in jail right now.

Shame on her. If I were a parent of a child there, i'd expect a full refund.

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found: http://www.mylife.com/annbactawar