Infant's Death Leads to Discovery of Illegal Daycare
A woman charged with endangering the lives of several children is free on bond but will have to answer for the death of one of the children she was babysitting. Pamela Clark Wood was arrested on March 6 after authorities responded to her home and found a 3-month-old baby girl unresponsive at Wood's home, where she was illegally caring for numerous children.
"She lied about how many children were there and told us there were only six kids she was caring for, when actually we ended up finding 23. When you're registered to only have six, DSS doesn't perform any types of checks," Greenville County Deputy Drew Pinciaro told News 2.
The police found the children hidden in the basement daycare that Wood ran illegally. Child care providers are required to register with the department of social services on a yearly basis if they care for more than six children.
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"By law, we can only go into those homes if there's a complaint filed," Leigh Bolick, Director of Division of Early Care and Education with DSS. "She was keeping more than six children and the law says that if we find incidences where people are going against the law, we have to give them [time] to correct what we call a deficiency."
On the day that police responded to the call about the 3-month-old, a toddler was found unsupervised in the backyard. Alcohol and a loaded firearm were within reach of the young children, leading to even more charges.
Wood is currently charged with child neglect, violation of child daycare licensing and obstructing justice. However, police are clear that she is not being charged in connection with the child's death. Wood was able to post $11,000 bond and has not spoken to anyone since her arrest.
According to News 2, Wood had a complaint filed against her over six years ago for the exact same violation, but that did not stop her from re-opening her illegal daycare again.
