Enid daycare operator charged with child abuse

Tuesday, February 1st 2005, 5:50 am

By: News On 6

ENID, Okla. (AP) _ Garfield County prosecutors on Monday charged a daycare operator with child abuse for allegedly allowing two children to walk away from her home-based business.

Martha A. Hernandez is accused of failing to provide adequate protection for the two boys, ages 2 and 4.

The boys wandered away from Hernandez's home while she was upstairs cleaning on Dec. 4, according to court documents. Hernandez told police the children were gone when she finished cleaning and came downstairs, the affidavit states.

She looked for the boys around the house then drove around the neighborhood in her van.

The boys were found walking about 7:40 p.m., the affidavit states.

Neither boy was harmed after leaving the daycare, but they managed to cross two busy four-lane roads before they were spotted by the restaurant employee, the affidavit states.