• Fort Lauderdale day care marred by fire, swastikas; owners allege hate crime

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    By Gilma Avalos, NBCMiami.com

    MIAMI -- Bishop Ivory Wilson on Sunday gazed on the shattered window of a building that serves as a church on the weekend and as a day care during the week.

    There is the charred cafeteria where children would eat their snacks. A roof is now blackened with soot. It's just feet away from where students learn and play at the day care center.

    "We worked hard to make this,” Wilson said. “The kids love us, the parents love us and we love them.”

    Director Sandra Wilson said: “This just broke my heart, I couldn't stop crying -- couldn't stop crying.” 

    They say they believe the fire was deliberately set, given the vandalism spray-painted on the walls: three large red swastikas. 

    The owners of Little Leapers Childcare center in Fort Lauderdale say it’s a hate crime. In the last few weeks, employees say they also have been on the receiving end of a verbal threat. 

    Three weeks before the fire, an anonymous someone phoned “and threatened us,” said Joyce Bryant, lead schoolteacher. The caller told staff to pack their bags and get out, Bryant said.

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    When that call came in, the bishop and his wife contacted police. Sunday, instead of singing and praising in the auditorium, they're tallying up items that were stolen: Cameras, music equipment and flat-screen TVs used to live-stream sermons.

    "Here we've got parents that won't know where to take their kids tomorrow morning," Wilson said.

    They've been present in the community now for more than four years. They can’t understand why they’ve been attacked.

    "We think everyone should be able to run their own business without anyone trying to run them out," Bryant said.

    The bishop said vacating the building is the last thing they'll do, unwilling to let hatred win.

    "We're not going to run,” he said. “Whatever game they're playing doesn't frighten me.”

  • Report: Boy, 4, dies after being left for hours in sweltering SUV

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    By NBCMiami.com staff

    MIAMI -- The Broward County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of a 4-year-old boy at a Tamarac apartment complex.


    According to BSO spokeswoman Dani Moschella, the boy died Wednesday after he was found at the apartment complex at 7806 N. Colony Circle.

    No other details were given, but according to a report in the Miami Herald that cited unidentified sources, the child had been left in a sweltering SUV for more than two hours by the daughter of the operator of 3C's Day Academy, a Sunrise day-care center.

    See the original report  |  More from NBCMiami.com

    According to the report, the boy and seven other children were taken to the apartment complex by the 20-year-old because the day care owner was afraid child-care-licensing administrators would see she was caring for more children than her license allowed.

    But when they got to the complex, the 4-year-old was left in the car with outside temperatures in the 90s while the other children were brought to a unit, the report said.

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    The owner of 3C's Day Academy, 42-year-old Cecily Roberts, has been cited three times since 2010 for running an over-capacity facility and twice for leaving infants and toddler in the care of her daughter, who doesn't meet the age requirement for supervising a child-care center, the Herald said.

    A woman who answered Roberts' phone Friday morning said Roberts was unavailable for comment.

    3C's Day Academy, which is a home-based day care, has also been reported to the Department of Children and Families on three occasions, including once for improper supervision of children, the Herald reported.

    DCF spokesman Joe Follick referred questions about the case to the BSO, which handles child protective investigation work in Broward, and the county, which performs child care licensing.

    "We are working very closely with our partners to make sure that these children are safe and that anyone who has committed a crime is held responsible to the fullest extent of the law," Follick said in a statement. "This tragic case serves as a dark reminder of the dangers of leaving a child unattended for any amount of time in a vehicle. It is also a sad reminder that parents should fully investigate the background of day care facilities."

    He said information on child care licensing and a list of licensed facilities can be found here.

    Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti told the Herald that they're waiting for the medical examiner to determine how the child died.

    "We’re waiting for the medical examiner to come back with a ruling. That’s why we can’t really say anything," Lamberti said. "We don’t know if it was neglect or homicide."

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  • Andrea Sneiderman, widow of businessman killed outside Dunwoody, Ga., day care, charged with murder

    Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP

    Putnam County sheriff's deputies lead Andrea Sneiderman from her parents' home on Lake Oconee near Eatonton, Ga., after arresting her Thursday.

    By James Eng, NBC News

    Updated at 2:08 p.m. ET: Andrea Sneiderman, the widow of a businessman who was gunned down by her former boss outside a Georgia day care center, was charged Thursday with murder and other crimes connected to the slaying.


    Prosecutors contend she conspired with her then-supervisor, with whom she was allegedly having an affair, to have her husband killed so she could collect on $2 million in life insurance policies.

    A team of Putnam County and DeKalb County law officers went to Sneiderman’s home in Eatonton, Ga., and took her into custody Thursday morning.

    The arrest occurred after a DeKalb County grand jury returned an indictment on charges of malice murder, attempted murder, racketeering, insurance fraud, two counts of perjury and two counts of making false statements.

    DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James announced the charges at an afternoon press conference but refused to elaborate on the nature of the evidence.

    "Our collective goal is to continue to seek justice and preserve the public safety of our community, not only for the Sneiderman family but for anyone who has lost a loved one because of a violent crime," he said.

    James said the arrest was the result of several months' work. "We’re going to put all the facts and the evidence out there and at the end of the day it’s going to be up to a jury to make a decision in this case," he said.

    The jury in the Dunwoody day care murder trial found defendant Hemy Newman guilty but mentally ill in the shooting of Rusty Sneiderman, but the victim's family tells TODAY they still want answers. NBC's Dennis Murphy reports.

    Sneiderman, a 36-year-old mother of two, was booked Thursday into the DeKalb County Jail. She will likely be arraigned within the next month, James said.

    Sneiderman's attorney, J. Tom Morgan, said she "categorically" denies the charges.

    "There's no way we can know what evidence was presented in secret chamber. That's why we have juries, and people who know nothing about this case will be able to make a decision at that time," Morgan said.

    Rusty Sneiderman was shot to death on the morning of Nov. 18, 2010, after he dropped off his son at a Dunwoody day care facility.

    The case drew national attention after authorities arrested Hemy Neuman, Andrea Sneiderman's boss at the General Electric complex in Marietta, and charged him with the slaying.

    At trial earlier this year, Neuman was found guilty but mentally ill after acknowledging he shot Rusty Sneiderman multiple times.

    Prosecutors contended Neuman and Andrea Sneiderman were having an affair and Neuman wanted to get rid of his romantic rival. Andrea Sneiderman testified that they never did more than hold hands.

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    Neuman is serving a term of life without parole at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center in Jackson.

    In June, Andrea Sneiderman filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Neuman. She formally denied being his co-conspirator and said in the lawsuit that Neuman acted alone.

    The indictment returned Thursday against Andrea Sneiderman alleges she plotted with Neuman to have her husband killed so she could acquire his money and property. Rusty Sneiderman had two life insurance policies with a combined payout value of $2 million and individual and joint accounts totaling more than $960,000.

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    “Neuman and Andrea Sneiderman conspired together to murder Rusty Sneiderman so that they could enjoy a life together, eliminate Neuman’s debt problems, and fully benefit from the assets the Sneidermans had acquired as well as the proceeds of Rusty Sneiderman’s life insurance policies,” the indictment says.

    During their affair, Andrea Sneiderman and Neuman took business trips together and Neuman asked her to be with him forever and to marry him, prosecutors allege.

    On the morning of the slaying, Neuman disguised himself with a fake beard, drove to the Dunwoody day care in a rented van and shot Rusty Sneiderman four times with a handgun.

    Andrea Sneiderman collected on the death benefits of her husband’s life insurance policies a few months after the murder, according to the indictment.

    NBC News' Edgar Zuniga Jr. contributed to this story.

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  • 3-year-old boy dies after being left in van outside Dallas day care

    Family Photo via NBC 5

    Benjamin Price, 3, is shown in a family photo.

    By Elvira Sakmari and Amanda Guerra, NBCDFW.com

    Updated at 11:45 p.m. ET: Dallas Fire-Rescue and Dallas Police are investigating the death of a child left in a van outside a day care in Dallas.


    Dallas Fire-Rescue said it received the call to just before 5:15 p.m. Friday.

    Dallas police say the call came from Little T's Tiny Tot Daycare in the 2200 block of South Buckner Boulevard which is near Cordell Drive.

    See the original report at NBCDFW.com

    The child was given CPR as he was transported to Baylor Hospital, Dallas police said, but doctors there pronounced him dead.

    Family members have gathered at the hospital and identified the child as 3-year-old Benjamin Price. A grieving family member originally told NBC 5 Price was 4.

    Dallas police Lt. Scott Walton said the little boy was left in the van outside the day care after a field trip. The high at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport was 105 degrees Friday.

    Family members tell NBC 5 the day care didn't realize Price was still asleep in the van until his grandmother came to pick him up.

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    "There was no place you wouldn't know he was there. He made his presence known wherever he was. So for them to not know Benjamin was there – I just don't see how," said Benjamin’s God Mother Kawanea Hines.

    Family member Kisha Allen said she wants answers from the day care where Price had been going for more than a year.

    "You know, a kid lost his life because of stupidity. This isn't even a matter of negligence. It's stupidity," said Allen. "It could have been as simple as counting the children as they left the room and counting the children when they got off the bus. Something as simple as counting. You were taught that in kindergarten."

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    One of Benjamin's grandmothers said she knows the woman who owns the day care and although she has burning questions, she is choosing to forgive the employees.

    "Well I can't hold her responsible because God has got this thing in control. It's God’s will, God's will," said Louria Washington. "The time that he gave us, the three years he gave us Benjamin, we just appreciate and thank God just for the three years."

    When NBC 5 called the day care, the person who answered said "no comment" and hung up.

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  • Minneapolis mom drops son at day care, then returns to find triple murder

    By The Associated Press

    MINNEAPOLIS -- A woman who became suspicious and called 911 after dropping her son off at a suburban Minneapolis day care provider's home stayed on the line as she went back to the house and discovered three people shot to death, according to transcripts of the call.

    The Brooklyn Park Police Department released the transcript of the call that took place Monday, minutes after investigators believe a lone male fatally shot DeLois Brown and her elderly parents.  

     

    The transcript provides a chilling account of how the mother became suspicious after seeing a man in a hooded sweatshirt and a glove on one hand on a bicycle outside Brown's home. She told police she called Brown to warn her but spoke to her only briefly before she heard the word "no" and the phone went dead.

     

    When she turned around and returned to the house, she spotted the man riding away with something under his coat. Her alarm grew as she told the dispatcher that her son was inside and that the door was open.

    Police were still searching for the lone suspect in the shooting deaths of Brown, 59, and her parents, James Bolden, 82, and Clover Bolden, 81.

    'No! No!'
    The Hennepin County Medical Examiner said Wednesday that all three victims died of gunshot wounds, and that Brown and her mother had been shot in the head.

    The caller stayed on the phone with the 911 dispatcher while she went inside to see if Brown, her son and the others were OK.

    She quickly found her son, who was uninjured, but she couldn't find the day care provider right away. She called out to Brown repeatedly, her voice imbued suddenly with horror as she came upon Brown and her parents in a bedroom.

    Zimmerman to plead not guilty to second-degree murder

    "No! No!" the mother exclaimed to the dispatcher. "They're in their bed. ... There's blood all over them."

    The dispatcher instructed the woman to go outside. The transcript shows her crying and praying as she called to her son and told him to get in the car as police arrived on the scene.

    Prosecutor: Doctor shoots colleague dead, then kills self

    Police are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. Authorities were still saying little else about the slayings because the investigation is ongoing.

    Inspector Todd Milburn said authorities are still looking for a man in his 20s who they believe fled on a BMX bicycle. He was wearing jeans and a blue sweatshirt or jacket with a gray hood and white stripes on the back near the shoulders.

    Quiet neighborhood
    Milburn said police do not believe the suspect was still in the immediate vicinity, and they were working with a number of agencies on the case. The FBI said it was providing assistance to Brooklyn Park police when requested.

    The triple slaying is not related to the death of a woman shot in a domestic-related incident Tuesday night just a mile and a half away, Milburn said.

    Police: Tulsa shooting rampage suspects confess

    Ashantai Finch, 32, died of a gunshot wound. A man was arrested in that case and remained in custody Wednesday pending possible charges.

    "We're focused on solving both crimes, both events," Milburn said. "That's our focus right now."

    Milburn said both incidents happened in neighborhoods that are relatively quiet and have few problems with police.

    Monday's homicides were the first this year in the Minneapolis suburb. There were five killings in 2011, but Brooklyn Park reported a 20-year low in overall crime in 2011.

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    Mom drops son at day care, returns to find 3 dead

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  • Police: Man accidentally put marijuana cigarette in son's lunch

    By NBC News and msnbc.com staff

    CLINTON, Conn. -- Police say a 33-year-old man sent along a little something extra in his 18-month-old son's lunch box this week: a marijuana cigarette.

    Clinton police arrested John Sulzbach of Killingworth after workers at the Clinton Child Care Center reported finding the pot in the child's food container on Thursday, NBCConnecticut.com reported. The child is 18 months old, police said.

    Read the original story at NBCConnecticut.com

    The cigarette was accidentally dropped in the food container while Sulzbach made the child's lunch the night before, police said.

     Police found less than one ounce of marijuana in Sulzbach’s basement after searching his home. He faces charges of risk to injury to a minor and drug possession.

    Sulzman was charged with possession of a controlled substance and risk of injury/impairing the morals of a child. He was released on a written promise to appear in court on Dec. 22.

    Msnbc.com staff contributed to this report from NBCConnecticut.com.