Nursery workers who used Halloween masks to scare kids charged with child abuse

Five nursery workers have been charged with child abuse after a video of them deliberately scaring children with a Ghostface mask went viral.

The incident came to light last week when a video of the staff scaring the children at Lil' Blessings Child Care & Learning Center in Mississippi surfaced online.

Jennifer Kayla Newman/Facebook

In the shocking footage, a worker can be seen wearing an imitation mask from the '90s horror flick Scream and shouting phrases like 'You must be good!' at terrified children, who were running and screaming.

As this all takes place, another employee can be seen laughing on camera, despite the obvious terror being experienced by the children.

The footage was allegedly filmed in September by a concerned employee, Jennifer Kayla Newman, and the nursery's owner, Sheila Sanders, told Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal that the workers were later fired.

"I contacted my licensure, and she has gotten involved," Sanders said. "The people that did those acts are no longer with us. They were fired. I wasn't here at the time and wasn't aware they were doing that. I don't condone that and never have. I just want to say it's been taken care of."

Now, the five people involved have been charged with felony child abuse, ABC reports, with one set of parents signing child abuse affidavits in Monroe County Justice Court on Wednesday (19 October).

A judge subsequently issued warrants on the charges, ultimately leaving four workers facing three felony counts of abuse and another, two charges for failing to report the abuse.

Jennifer Kayla Newman/Facebook

Monroe County Sheriff Kevin Crook released the following statement about the incident earlier this month: "On Monday October 17, 2022 the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, the County Prosecuting Attorney, and the District Attorney met with the parents of the children involved in the incident at Lil' Blessings Child Care and Learning Center and informed them of the possible criminal charges the law would allow them to pursue.

"Parents were also given an opportunity to share information they had gathered with MCSO Investigators."

Kayla Newman/Facebook

As reported by the Daily Mail, one of the workers involved, who claims to have been wearing the Ghostface mask, has denied all allegations of child abuse.

Taking to Facebook, she wrote that she brought the mask in to scare a co-worker.

"It wasn't meant to harm anybody and it wasn't ill-intentioned. I didn't go in there with intentions to literally traumatise those children," she said.

Tyla has attempted to reach out to Lil' Blessings Child Care & Learning Center for comment.