An employee of the Leesburg Regional Medical Center Daycare Center has been arrested after a 1-year-old suffered an injury to his lip.
Aida Margarita Soto Rivas, 50, of Leesburg, was arrested Tuesday on a warrant charging her with a felony count of child abuse.
The Department of Children and Families had received a report this past November of the injury to the child. Rivas claimed the 1-year-old had been running to his mat for nap time when the injury occurred.
However, a review of surveillance footage told a different story. She was seen on surveillance picking up the child and throwing him to his mat, according to the arrest warrant. He rose to a kneeling position and Rivas “forcefully pushed him forward,” the warrant said. The child tried to rise up a second time and was pushed down again. She then dragged the child by his lower extremities. She used her hand to force his head back onto the mat. She “roughly” grabbed him to evaluate his injury and took him to a sink area to clean him up.
She was booked at the Lake County Jail and released after posting $2,000 bond.
