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In California, a nanny was taken into custody on charges of child abuse after a landscaper witnessed and recorded the incident. Other onlookers then trailed her to a nearby residence.
According to the Lincoln Police Department, they responded to Markham Ravine Park after the witness handed them the video evidence. The officers soon located Suzanne Buhler, 41, at the location where she was followed by the witnesses.
The officers discovered the child, who showed injuries that matched the alleged abuse. The toddler received medical care and is now safe with family members.
Curtis and Angie Tuttle shared with KCRA that they had hired Buhler via Care.com to assist with their 22-month-old daughter, Paisley. They expressed they had been satisfied with her services.
“She was fostering our child’s development in a very positive way,” Curtis Tuttle remarked.
But on March 16, the couple was surprised to find three police officers at their door.
The two police officers asked her [Buhler] to step outside of the house,” Curtis Tuttle said. “One officer asked if they could come into my home. I said, ‘Yes, of course.’ She shut the door. The two were out with Suzanne [Buhler]. The one was with me, and he proceeded to tell me what had happened.”
The officer said a landscaper at the park had heard a commotion and a child crying near a play area. The landscaper said he saw the child being physically abused repeatedly and took out his camera to record what he saw. When Buhler left the park with the toddler, two other people followed her back to the Tuttles’, where the girl’s parents worked from home.
“It was a complete shock,” the father said. “If I didn’t see this video myself, I would not have thought this had happened.”
Buhler was booked into the Placer County jail on a child abuse charge and has since bailed out.
Care.com told KCRA that it was “deeply saddened” by the incident.
“All caregivers on Care.com are required to complete a background check on an annual basis before they are ever allowed contact with families,” the company said in a statement. “This individual completed all required screenings and had no prior reported incidents on our platform. The individual’s account is now closed, and we’ve taken steps to prevent her from re-enrolling. As this is an open investigation, we cannot comment further and stand ready to assist law enforcement.”
Curtis Tuttle told KCRA that the landscaper who reported and recorded the incident is “our hero.”
Police noted asked anyone with further information to contact them at 916-645-4047.