Childcare Center’s Solitary Lockup Secures a Child Endangerment Arrest
Photo: MagiKids Robotics
CLAREMONT – When is a STEM learning-center lab not an excellent adventure in learning? A 7-year-old child experienced an alternate trip down such a rabbit hole when she was locked up with no-one else at the center.
The solitary child waited alone in an empty building for over half an hour on August 21st. All the windows and doors were locked.
Claremont PD received a possible child-abuse investigation call at 4:30 PM. An immediate on-scene response found a worried adult who’d been locked out of MagiKid Robotics at 578 E. Baseline Rd.
All that the adult and child could do was see each other through the lobby windows. The owner, Yanhua Zhang (46) of Claremont, eventually arrived.
The reporting party had alerted police that the explanation for this choice was: the child was fussy and did not want to accompany the owner while the owner “ran some errands.”
Such building bricks of learning apparently include a law-enforcement’s life-lesson reminder regarding who is the responsible party of the establishment. The owner was arrested for Child Endangerment, transported to Claremont PD, then booked.
The child was unharmed after the incident and did not need any medical assistance. The parents were advised of the incident.
“Zhang was later released after posting bond,”said Council Member Ed Reece. Former Police Commissioner Reece added, “Her arraignment date is scheduled for September 12th, 2019, at the Pomona Superior Court.”
To showcase the strength of a one-star yelp.com review, additional revealing evidence began to stack up. This post appeared the very next day by Riki M.:
“While my granddaughter enjoyed the lab’s activities, the owner chose to lock her up alone for over 30 min while she went to run errands, because my granddaughter was the only child left at 4:30. Mind you, this is “care” for which my daughter and son-in-law paid. The owner’s excuse was that my GD was “fussy” about going to run errands with her. As if that would have been ok… ?!?!? The owner did not attempt to contact parents, nor could she be reached when parents tried to call. The day prior, when I went to pick her up, she and another child were unattended, though there were two young adults in another room, engaged in an activity. They did not notice me coming in, nor did they, over the course of the 10 minutes I interacted with both children, come out or connect with me. I could have taken both kids and there was no one watching. When I finally left, the owner came running from the direction of Vons … I thought it was a one-off… little did I know …”
Anyone is urged to provide any information regarding this crime to the Claremont Police Department at (909) 399-5411.
