Day care workers 'sprinkled sleep drug in children's food without parents knowing'

The owner and three members of staff at a daycare in New Hampshire are facing charges after sprinkling melatonin in the food of the children they were looking after.

Sally Dreckmann, 52, the day care owner, and her employees Traci Innie, 51, Kaitlin Filardo, 23, and Jessica Foster, 23, were charged with 10 counts of endangering the welfare of a child, the Manchester Police Department said. Food that the children were eating and which was being provided by the in-house day care was being sprinkled with melatonin without their parents' knowledge or consent, according to authorities.

Meltonin is a sleep aid, and is usually safe to use short-term, according to the Mayo Clinic. Heather Hamel, a spokesperson for the Manchester Police Department, said in a statement to WDHD: "This is an over-the-counter drug that can be given as a sleep aid, but for it to be given to children without the knowledge or consent of the parents, it’s very concerning."

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The four people were arrested following a long investigation after authorities were alerted to "unsafe practices" at the day care in November last year. Police confirmed that none of the children needed medical attention after eating the food with melatonin in.

It comes after a nine-month-old baby girl was at daycare in North Carolina and a bottle warmer reportedly spilled all over her body, resulting in severe third-degree burns in March this year.

Addison Starnes's family in Concord was notified that their little one would require two surgeries to heal from her horribly burned skin. On February 28, the incident is said to have happened while she was attending Concord Children's Academy for daycare. Addison's jaw, neck, stomach, chest, arms, legs, and back were all burned .

Attorneys for the family stated, "We believe that Addison was in a highchair waiting to receive her bottle when a bottle warmer was overturned, causing the scorching water to spill and severely burn Addison." Addison was transported to Wake Forest Baptist's Pediatric ICU Burn Center, where she is now being treated. "Addison's family would appreciate your thoughts and prayers," the family's attorney statement read.

At 7.45 am, someone called 911. Given the severity of the infant's injuries, first responders considered airlifting him to Chapel Hill or Winston-Salem. "We are trying to help anyway we can as both of them are out of work along with having two other small children who still need to be cared for and as we all know bills don't stop even in an emergency like this," said the description of the GoFundMe. The Department of Health and Human Services has previously expressed concerns about first-aid training at the daycare.