Strollerderby
Nanny Dumps Kids in Daycare
Roxanna Patricia Villamarin seemed like the perfect nanny,
until her clients found out that instead of taking their children on fun
outings to the zoo, she was dumping them at another in-house daycare.
Villamarin paid this unlicensed daycare provider $10 per day. 
Her own salary? $16 per hour.
Now she’s facing five counts of grand theft, one count of
intimidating a witness and one count of annoying phone calls (is that a real
crime?).
How did she do it?
Villamarin encouraged her clients with her focus on educational outings and
strong opinions on child-rearing. She even offered to make organic homemade
baby food for the little ones. But according to officials, Villamarin had been
leaving at least five clients’ children in a rundown apartment over five years.
“She would pick up the children; she would drop them off at an
unlicensed daycare center. And she would pursue other goals,” City
Attorney Will Rivera said. Goals like working other jobs, in a farmer’s market
and in her family’s restaurant.
Villamarin told the kids they were going to “the library,” so when
the kids relayed that information to their parents, no red flags were raised.
But there weren’t many books in “the library,” a small, rundown
apartment with barred windows on a busy street in East Hollywood.
I know if my kids told me their nanny was taking them to the library all the
time, I’d be thrilled. But I like to think I’d ask them a little more about it.
What did you read at the library? Did you go for story time? Did you see any of
your friends there? Where are the books you checked out? One child told his
parents he took a shower at the library. Villamarin told the parents their son
was being silly, but that certainly would have given me pause. My children
shouldn’t be showering anywhere I’m not.
According to Villamarin, the parents deserved it. “They treat me bad, I
treat them bad,” she says. Among her complaints: she was underpaid, didn’t
receive health insurance, and was paid under the table. Did she ever raise
these issues? “No, it’s not my style to complain,” she says.
Outsourcing her work and taking advantage of trusting parents, however, is
her style.
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6 Comments
milipan commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI am so glad that my husband and I made the decision that I stay at home with my son instead of taking him to daycare. I love the fact that there is never room for doubt in our minds that our son is always okay. I don’t mean to vilify working parents, but I really think that they should put the well-being of their kids above everything else and should only have them if they are prepared to take care of that child themselves. I know that not all parents can afford to have one parent stay at home, but if they can make it work, they should.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amSee, if it suits them people will leave their kids with just anybody so as not to inconvenience themselves. I can ahrdly believe that not one parent in 5 years dropped in on their child with the nanny.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amThanks, Keri. It’s interesting to me that the comments over at NPR (the readership of which I would have expected to be a little more enlightened) mostly castigate the parents for leaving their kids with a caregiver. Are we ever going to get past this reflexive judgment of working parents? Do people really think that one shouldn’t have children if both parents have to work? Because in this day and age, I would guess that more and more families need both incomes just to get by.
It just makes me depressed. Why isn’t it the awful nanny who is receiving the blame?
KeriF commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amHere’s the story as reported on NPR:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99120521&ft=1&f=1006
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amKeri, I’m not seeing a link to the story. Do you happen to have one? Thanks!
Shannon LC Cate commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amSort of a child-care Ponzi scheme.
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