An employee at a day care in Montrose has been accused of child abuse after giving a sleep aid to 35 young children earlier this month, police say.
Dedrie E. Womack, 44, of Montrose, has been issued a summons in the Oct. 22 incident at Hug-A-Bear Childcare & Learning Center, according to Cmdr. Gene Lillard. Police say Womack gave the children unknown doses of the sleep aid melatonin, though investigators found 5 mg capsules at the day care.
“The parents did not know about it,” Lillard said.
The children were medically observed by emergency responders and parents were called after police were alerted to the incident, Lillard said. No children were sickened by the aid.
“I think it was concerning to everyone that was present,” Lillard said. “We’re still in the investigative mode, doing some follow up on the incident itself.”
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or
