The owners of the Delray Beach daycare center where a toddler was found dead last week inside a hot van were cited for an incident that was eerily similar two years ago.
Broward County records show the owners of Katie's Kids Learning Center were cited in July 2008 for leaving an 8-year-old who had fallen asleep inside one of their vans, according to the Palm Beach Post.
The incident happened at the Wexford Academy on Atlantic Blvd., after a field trip. The report didn't say how long the 8-year-old was left or whether the child was injured, only that an employee never returned to the van to see if any child had been left behind.
Katie's Kids was the scene of last week's tragedy, when 2-year-old Haile Brockington died after she was left in a van outside the facility for as long as six hours, according to police.
Both Wexford and Katie's Kids are owned by Lake Worth residents Kathryn Muhammad and Barbara Dilthey.
A friend and attorney for them, Betty Resch, said their staff "let them down."
"It's their worst nightmare," Resch told the Post. "(Katie) can't do anything to make this go away, but she's doing what she can do in this situation."
Local
Katie's Kids will remain closed through the week as an investigation into Brockington's death continues.
