ABINGDON, Va. (WJHL) – An investigation into alleged child abuse at Blue Mountain Childcare in Abingdon yielded two arrests recently.

Following their firing from the facility, the Washington County Virginia Sheriff’s Office charged Ambrosia Kierre Monk, 30, of Bristol, VA, and Rachel Puckett, 25, of Saltville, VA, with assault and battery.

All eight alleged victims were 4-year-olds.

The owner of Blue Mountain, Clint Waddell, said he reported the employees himself and fired them when he first learned of the alleged abuse from a different employee.

“After interviewing the initial one that came to me, I interviewed five others, with four of those others having statements that were concerning,” Waddell explained.

Waddell said his employees go through background checks, fingerprinting and are submitted through a central registry before being hired.

“We’ve done everything that we could do in interviewing and checking references and doing those background checks,” said Waddell. “We also do drug screens and all those things. It still didn’t prevent this from happening.”

An investigation by the Virginia Department of Social Services said two employees, referenced as ‘nine’ and ‘ten,’ physically abused the children by spanking or smacking them on the hands and mouth, and allegedly made the children lie on their stomachs while sitting on top of their backs.

The report also said these acts had been happening since December, but no other employees had reported it.

Waddell said he was made known of the acts in March and reported them immediately.
He also says he wishes his employees had reported it as soon as they had known.

“I wish they would have reported directly to DSS or CPS. I can’t speak on somebody else’s behalf. I certainly wish they did.”

“To me, the acts are egregious, but at the same time, the inactions of others are also hard to stomach, too.”

Waddell said he is planning on making surprise check-ins at the daycare once a week. He also says he has hired a new director.

“I’m up here on site a lot more, and we’ve got a new director with plenty of experience. All we can do is face it head-on. We can take our public meetings, and we can just make sure that we’ve got staff here that knows that they are all mandatory reporters.”