2-year-old breaks leg at unlicensed St. Pete home day care, owner arrested: affidavit

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — The owner of an unlicensed, at-home day care in St. Petersburg is facing child neglect charges after a 2-year-old child in her care broke their leg, according to an affidavit.

Earlier this month, St. Petersburg police responded to the home located at 1626 21st Avenue South after the child broke their right leg.

The owner, 25-year-old Aniya Johnson, told officials the child fell, but medical doctors said the injury “couldn’t have come from just falling,” due to the type of injury the toddler sustained.

“You see this every once in a while with child abuse investigations or child neglect, you have to kind of follow that road to make sure you’re connecting the injury to the correct person,” said Michael Kovacsev, SPPD assistant chief.

According to the arrest documents, the child’s parents believed Johnson to be licensed.

In a post-Miranda statement, Johnson admitted to not being licensed but used paperwork listing her as the licensee of the day care service.

Police are encouraging people to use licensed day cares as a way of prevention.

“The state regulates those individuals, so you have to have safety devices in your residence. You have to know procedural in case something were to happen to the child, and you’re better prepared to be able to deal with the crisis that may occur,” Kovacsev said. “So the unlicensed obviously doesn’t have to follow any of those rules. And if you’re not trained and you’re not understanding what you need to do if something were to happen, you may be less prone also to bring it forward, because you don’t want there to be a notification, you don’t want to get in trouble.”

The Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County said parents should ask day care providers when their last visit from DCF was, and to see the report from the visit. You can find the report on your own, here .

The coalition said parents should ask to stop by for a visit, and then stop by without prearranging the visit. They encourage parents to pay attention to your senses while you are there, ask yourself how does the place smell, and listen to the tone of the caregivers, and dispositions of the children in their care.

Johnson was arrested and charged with child neglect with great bodily harm and failing to obtain a license for a day care center. She is being held without bond.

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