The owners of a Delray Beach daycare center where a young girl died after she was left in a hot van for several hours back in August were fined the maximum amount possible during a health department hearing Thursday.
Kathryn Muhammad and Barbara Dilthey, owners of Katie's Kids Daycare in Palm Beach County will pay $2,000 total for a number of violations that led to the Aug. 5 death of 2-year-old Haile Brockington, who was left unattended in the back seat of a van for six hours outside the facility.
Muhammad and Dilthey were charged with leaving a child unattended, not filling out transportation logs properly, and failing to make sure the child got off the van, according to WPTV.
The Environmental Control Hearing Board had earlier recommended a $1,000 fine, but voted to double it Thursday, making it one of the highest penalties the charged a daycare with in the last several years.
Muhammad was upset with the decision and said she has spent $6,000 installing new alarms in all of her company's vans.
"I'm trying to do everything I can do make sure this doesn't not only happen at my facility but the whole state of Florida, that's all I have to say," Muhammad told WPTV.
Two people, including former director for Katie's Kids Petra Rodriguez Perez and the van's driver, Amanda Inman, have been criminally charged in Inman's death.
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Brockington's family has filed a civil suit against Inman, Muhammad and Dilthey.
