Little Girl With Autism Treated Like 'An Animal' By Store Owner, Nanny Says

MEDFORD, NY — A trip for frozen yogurt turned traumatic for a 10-year-old girl with autism Monday. The incident has sparked an uproar on social media as the public comes to the defense of the child, Maria, who lives in Medford and went with her nanny and sisters to YoGoMania on Route 112 in Medford for a sweet treat.

What ensued has left a sour taste in the mouths of many. According to 18-year-old Raegan Offermann, a nanny to Maria and her two sisters for the last six months — Offermann said she and her family have known the girls and their dad Joe Wallert for years — she and a friend walked into the frozen yogurt shop with the three girls Monday afternoon.

"From the moment we walked in we were getting stared down," she said.

She took Maria to get her yogurt first, she said.

"We moved on to the topping section while my friend was helping the little ones. Maria was pointing to the toppings she wanted. At one point, she went to go touch the rainbow sprinkles, but I moved her hand just in time before she did," Offermann said. "I spilled a few sprinkles off the spoon onto the counter while moving her hand, all while being stared at the whole time, making me very uncomfortable."

Offermann said the store's owner, Jessica Guo, was one of two behind the counter "whispering."

Next, Offermann and the child moved to put the frozen yogurt onto the scale, she said.

"Once Maria finished her yogurt she wanted more, but I said 'no,' that she had to wait. She was getting a little antsy and began making some typical noises that she makes to entertain herself. She was rocking a little, which is normal behavior for a child with autism," Offermann said. "Then she went and laid on the bench, rocking side to side. Mind you, not destroying anything."

Offermann said she sent Maria into the bathroom to wash her hands, and she did so obediently.

However, as soon as the girl was finished, Offermann said Guo went into the bathroom immediately.

Offermann and her friend exchanged looks, she said. "It was very rude," she said.

After the other children were sent in to wash their hands, Offermann said the owners kept staring and whispering.

Maria, she said, was upset, crying, so Offermann brought her outside to calm her, but as soon as they re-entered the shop, the staring continued, she said.

Upset with how Maria was treated, Offermann wrote a review on Yelp — and that's when the issue heated up on social media.

On Yelp, Offermann said the girl was crying and had to be brought outside but added that the owner should understand that the child has autism. Instead, she said, the owner watched the child "like she was an animal."

Offermann told Patch that she wrote a review on Yelp stating all that had happened "and that it wasn't the first time. I've gone everywhere with these kids and never have been treated with such insensitivity. Her response was not only rude, but very unprofessional. Then, she had the audacity to text me about it saying that I'm no longer welcome in her store."

The owner, Guo, responded directly to Offerman on Yelp, stating: "Raegan, that child's activity is abnormal and . . . tried to reach all the toppings with her bare hands! She was rude to me and made all the noises to the customers. She also tried to destroy all the facilities in my store. I have to pay attention to her because I must be responsible for my other customers' health. . . If you know she is autistic you should take more care of her."

Guo said she never yelled at the children.

The child, Offermann said, did not touch any toppings, just pointed to the one she wanted.

The dispute escalated when Guo texted Offerman. "Are you Raegan?" she texted.

When Offerman said she was, Guo wrote, "Don't come back again to my store! We don't welcome you!" She later added: "Yogurt business should be gentle and joyful. We don't welcome any bad customers coming here to destroy the good circumstances. We only want good customers coming here!"

On Wednesday, Guo wrote on Facebook, "Raegan, a high school student, is using the social media to ruin my store! We know her! She applied for a job here but we didn't hire her. And she is the employee of the previous owner of this store. She has spread many information to others to hurt me and my store. . .She plotted and organized this matter."

Offermann responded to that comment by saying that she had applied at the frozen yogurt shop because she had worked for the previous owners. "But I decided against working there because I was warned of how bad it is to work for them. so I wasn't denied a job," she said.

Others took to social media to defend the 10-year-old girl. When Guo said her business was ruined by Offermann, one man wrote, "No, buddy, you ruined your store."

"The minute you looked up her phone number and contacted her in the manner you did, you caused yourself the issue. Most business owners apologize and figure out how to make things right," another responded.

Wallert, the girls' dad, wrote: "These are actually my children that you're speaking about. Anyone and everyone that knows them know they are the most respectful and well behaved children around. We are talking about the absolute sweetest little girls anybody could ever hope to meet."

While his special needs child at times needs to be redirected, Offerman had assured him that she did so by taking her outside for a brief moment to calm her down.

He suggested YoGoMania check its video surveillance cameras.

"If you post the video for all to see, and, my children were in fact even slightly disruptive, outside the realm of normal child behavior, I will apologize to you in person as well as publicly," Wallert said. "We all know that a video will never be posted. Why? Because your twisted account of the events of that day are completely fabricated with the intention of making a little girl on the autism spectrum seem like an uncontrollable animal when in fact she is a most loving, sweet, and kind hearted person in this world."

On Yelp, Brendan from Patchogue wrote: "Owners of this establishment are incredible rude and unprofessional. They stalked and harassed" a young woman with "an autistic child" and then attempted to pin blame on her rather than accepting they were wrong.

"This business will never get a penny from me and should undergo a complete management and staff change," he wrote.

Another woman wrote on Facebook that she is the mother of a severely disabled, non-verbal 18-year-old who has anxiety issues and will cry, make noise and sometimes scream.

"All I can say is I would never subject my daughter to your ignorance," she wrote. "May you never find yourself as a caretaker to any special needs child or adult. Disgraceful."

Guo, when reached by phone by Patch Wednesday, said she was unable to speak at the moment but would call back. As of press time, she has not responded to a request for comment.

Offermann, meanwhile, wanted to thank the many who stood up to defend her and a little girl who just wanted some frozen yogurt.

"I would really like to say thank you to everybody who shared my post to make people more aware of autism. Also, I really hope this was a lesson for these store owners not to discriminate," she said. "Our community is very upset."

Asked to comment on the incident, Autism Speaks, an autism advocacy organization, told Patch that "it's so unfortunate how some people still do not understand those with autism or have much compassion or empathy for them. This is why it’s so important to continue spreading awareness and letting people know that those with autism have as much right to be in the community as anyone else. We really hope that one day stories like this do not exist."

Editor's note: The YoGoMania in Medford is not associated with the YoGoMania shop in Holbrook. Each store is independently owned and operated.

Patch photos courtesy of Raegan Offermann