Two childcare workers enter pleas of no contest for hitting children with belt

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Two Wilmington childcare workers have entered pleas in cases that involved assaulting children, according to district attorney’s office.

Pamela Carr and Geraldine Sidbury were both charged for an incident that happened on May 26 at Carr’s Academy, which is owned by Carr.

The DA’s office wrote in a release that the investigation by the Wilmington Police Department revealed that there was an argument between two children on a bus that was in transport to Carr Academy. When the children arrived at the childcare facility, both children were hit multiple times with a belt by Sidbury. Carr then retrieved the belt from Sidbury and hit both children on the hands as well.

When the children reported to their elementary school teachers that they had been “whooped” the school social worker notified the parents. When the parents approached Carr and she denied the allegations. Interviews by WPD detectives of the children and other adults who were there at the time confirmed the children’s accounts. Video also supported that the incident happened.

North Carolina Administrative Code 10A NCAC 09 .1803 (a) states that no child shall be subjected to any form of corporal punishment by the owner, operator, director, or staff of any child care center.

In court on Tuesday, Sidbury and Carr pleaded no contest to two counts of assault on a child under 12, and both received the same sentence: 18 months of supervised probation, a 120 day suspended sentence, and no contact with minor children who are not relatives.