Woman Claims Autistic Son Was Abused at Former Bolingbrook Daycare

Photo: Stephanie Kroll poses for a photo with her son Derek.

It’s been nearly a year since former Bolingbrook resident Stephanie Kroll’s son came home from daycare with red welts across his rear-end, but still she’s looking for answers.

Kroll said her son had come home from daycare with several red welts spread across his buttocks and believes the marks resulted from an incident at the daycare. Kroll said she was first made aware of the marks on her son Derek’s buttocks when she received a text message Nov. 12, 2014, from Beautiful Beginnings Daycare owner Cory Clemons. According to the timestamp on the text, the message was sent at 4:25 p.m., Nov. 12. Derek had arrived at the daycare at 12:15 p.m. Several phone messages left for Clemons by Patch were not returned.

Patch does not normally identify minors in abuse cases, but his mother has given permission to do so and had already identified her son in a Facebook post about the alleged incident.

According to Kroll, Derek had attended Concord Elementary in Darien earlier the day he was alleged to have been hit. School was released at 11:30 a.m. and Derek arrived at Beautiful Beginnings at around 12:15 p.m.

Kroll’s boyfriend dropped Derek off at the daycare and told a daycare assistant, a woman who worked for Clemons, that Derek would need to go to the bathroom soon since he didn’t before they left home after school, according to Kroll, who said her boyfriend didn’t notice any marks on him when he tried to get him to go to the bathroom before he took him to the daycare.

Kroll believes the abuse happened when the daycare assistant took Derek to the bathroom shortly after his arrival.

When the incident was reported, Kroll’s boyfriend was required to take a lie detector test and passed. The Department of Child and Family Services went to Kroll’s house to speak with both her and her boyfriend. Her boyfriend was eventually cleared as a suspect.

Derek is autistic and nonverbal. He’s unable to speak for himself about what happened, which hindered the investigation.

According to state law, Clemons should have reported right away that Derek had suspicious marks on him. In her Facebook post, Kroll alleges Clemons never did so.

“The second I brought him home I took him to the bathroom and looked at his butt and saw the welts,” Kroll said.

Stephanie brought Derek to Edward Hospital and doctors confirmed the marks had come from some sort of impact and was not a rash.

According to medical records, the marks on Derek were consistent with physical abuse.

“The bruising, as well as marks, could have been produced by the belt or a cord,” the medical records state.

In her Facebook post about the incident, Kroll alleges that the daycare assistant was the main suspect in the case, but has refused to take a lie detector test and has pleaded the fifth ever since. Conflicting stories from the daycare workers proves to Kroll that Clemons was out of the daycare at the time of the incident. According to police reports, they offered conflicting versions of events, including their statements about what Derek ate for lunch that day. One report said he had pizza for lunch while another claims he ate chicken nuggets.

She also states the case will not be taken to court because there isn’t enough evidence to charge the daycare.

Bolingbrook Police Detective Kenneth Simpson, who assisted in the case, deferred questions to Bolingbrook Lt. Carter Larry. Larry said a subpoena was served to Clemons to appear in front of the Will County Grand Jury on March 18, 2015. As a result of her testimony, daycare assistant Taylor Noble was subpoenaed in front of the grand jury April 29, which was continued until May 6.

“Taylor Noble, while accompanied by her attorney, did not answer any questions pertaining to the case,” Larry said. “She pleaded the fifth.”

The case was then reviewed and a no complaint was issued.

Larry said he was unsure if the no complaint stemmed from an inability to prosecute the case or because of a lack of sufficient evidence or testimony to support the allegations.

The daycare, Beautiful Beginnings, is no longer in operation.

Kroll was hoping that at the end of this ordeal she would have some justice for her son. While now it might be harder to get, she won’t stop.

“I refuse to give up on him and will fight tooth and nail until I get justice for him,” Kroll said in her Facebook post. “If we don’t speak up for the children that can’t, no one will.”