Holiday Daycare Worker Accused of Kicking Toddler

A 48-year-old Tarpon Springs woman faces child abuse charges after Pasco County Sheriff’s deputies say she kicked a toddler in her care multiple times.

The incident occurred on Saturday at the Kids Stop and Play Daycare, 5339 Mile Stretch Road, when a 15-month-old girl was dropped off by her mother around 6 a.m. The mother told deputies her child was left in the center’s care “free of marks and injuries,” according to a probable cause affidavit.

When the mother returned that afternoon, however, her daughter had an abrasion under her right eye and on the left side of her face. Deputies were notified and an investigation was launched.

Detectives pulled the daycare’s surveillance video and saw one of the caregivers and the child on the video.

During the child’s naptime, “the video shows the defendant intentionally kicks the child on the top of her head and then drags her foot over the left side of the child’s face,” Det. William Wood wrote in the affidavit.

The child, who was sleeping at the time, woke up and cried, the report stated.

A short time later, the woman was caught on film kicking the child in the buttocks, Wood wrote.

Linda Katherine Klemm has been charged with child abuse in the case. She was booked into the Land O’ Lakes Jail on Saturday and was later released on $5,000 bond, according to jail records.

Photo Credit: Linda Katherine Klemm/Pasco County Sheriff’s Office

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