Daycare Worker Caught Kicking Toddlers 100+ Times Gets Jaw-Dropping Sentence

In over 100 separate incidents, toddlers. were kicked, yanked, and pushed by their. own caretaker at a Texas daycare. And. now, Katherine Guziesca, the woman at. the center of this horrifying case, has. finally been sentenced. What did the. judge decide? What does it mean for. these families? We're going to break it. all down with Russell Button, a trial. attorney and child injury expert, someone who knows cases like this inside. and out. Welcome to Sidebar, presented. by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

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security cameras repeatedly attacking. toddlers in her care. And we are talking. more than a hundred separate horrifying. incidents of abuse, kicking kids in the. back, including under two years old, standing on their hands, yanking them. around while they slept, all happening. quietly in a room full of children. But. now we have a major new development. Okay, a judge has officially handed down. Guysca's sentence and she is going away. for a long time. We're going to get into.

what happened because what has changed. since we last covered this is a lot and. what this new twist, what this new. update means moving forward. Now, this. all starts at a small daycare in. Lindale, Texas. It's called the Pumpkin. Doodles Daycare. 45-year-old Katherine. Guzca had been working there since. September of 2023. This is according to. the owner at the time. She passed the. background check. She had the training. She looked like the kind of employee. that you would trust with toddlers. And. for months, nobody had any idea what was. happening inside that room. But then you. go to October of 2024, and this is where.

everything blows open. Why? According to. the arrest affidavit that was reviewed. by local media, a coworker just happened. to be reviewing the daycare surveillance. footage when she saw something so. shocking, she rewound the clip to make. sure she saw what she thought she was. seeing. a two-year-old boy sitting. calmly on the floor and the defendant. walking up behind him and kicking him. Kicking him hard right in the small of. his back. So, the coworker alerts the. boy's father who immediately goes.

straight to the Smith County Sheriff's. Office to file a report. This is October. 23rd, 2024. And from there, deputies, they head to the daycare. They start. reviewing the footage themselves. And. that is when they realize that this. wasn't an isolated incident. Not even. close. Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith. later explained just how bad it was in. an interview with local affiliate KLTV, telling the outlet, quote, "There was. over 100 instances of what was observed. to be abuse, more than a hundred. And it. wasn't chaos. It wasn't kids running.

around. It wasn't a stressful moment. Not that that would justify it in any. way, but just to make it even worse, according to prosecutors, these toddlers. were just sitting quiet, existing, and. Guysa walked over and hurt them.". Authorities said the pattern was. disturbingly consistent. She would walk. up behind these toddlers, two, three, four years old, and kick them in the. back with her right foot again and. again. Investigators also said she stood. on the kids' hands, drag sleeping. toddlers out of their naps by one arm, aggressively reposition them, force. their faces toward the wall during.

diaper changes, and all of this was. apparently captured on video. Now, the. daycare owner at the time, Melanie Dawn. Law, told KTV that she reviewed the. footage herself. She confirmed to. deputies that she had seen abuse going. all the way back to July of 2024. Months. of it, more than a hundred incidents. So, she fires Guiasca immediately, turns. over every second of relevant footage to. law enforcement. And by the time. deputies were done reviewing just the. initial batch of surveillance footage, they had enough to move quickly. They.

charged Guysa with six counts of injury. to a child. On October 30th, 2024, an. arrest warrant was signed. Guysa was. booked into the Smith County Jail on a. $450,000. bond. And this is where she remained, according to local affiliate CBS 19. And. that's where the case stood. Dozens upon. dozens of documented incidents, six. formal charges, and a mountain of video. evidence that investigators were still. sorting through. And that is the point. where things eventually moved into the. courtroom. All right. So, as I. mentioned, I want to bring on a special. guest right now. I want to bring on.

trial attorney, child injury attorney, a. specialist unfortunately uh in this. area. There's just a lot of these. episodes that happen. Uh Russell Button, thanks so much for taking the time. Good. to see you. Um I I want to start with. this part before we get into how it. concluded and the sentence and what it. means. Cases like this where you have a. daycare worker who is accused of over a. hundred separate acts of abuse. How do. investigators even begin to build a case. like this? How does a lawyer even begin.

uh to build a case on in the civil case. or uh in the criminal case in the. criminal context? >> Well, the the first thing that happens. in these cases um is you have to have an. adult step up to the plate uh and report. it because investigations can't start. Uh most of these children in these. daycarees, they can't talk, you know, or. when they communicate um it's very. limited. So, you're looking for signs of. abuse in these children, in these cases. Um, you're going to be looking for.

changes in behavior. Uh, but many times, uh, it starts with some adult actually. taking it upon themselves to see. something and then say something. Um, and that's when those investigations. start. Uh, what they go through, what. they look at here. Thankfully, there was. video camera um, and there was video. surveillance. uh and these investigators. are able to go back in time um and look. at all of the stuff that's at least. caught on camera. Uh what's alarming in. our daycare and child injury work that.

we see in these cases all the time is. these things have been going on for. weeks and months and months and nobody. saw it. Nobody did anything. Um and it's. a severe lack of supervision uh in these. cases. Um and so in the civil case, you. know, we're able to get the reports that. the the DA and the criminal. investigators had. Um we're able to get. the state investigation reports and. we're also able to conduct our own.

independent investigation on what that. daycare knew or should have known um. throughout that entire time period. And. whether that's documentation about a. parent complaining about bruises um and. how did these appear mysteriously or a. child um not wanting to go to daycare. and being extremely withdrawn uh and. they get all these excuses that adds up. over time. And so we're able to piece a. lot of those things together. And in a. case like this, it's just it's it's. heart-wrenching. It's disturbing um that.

it happened for such a long period of. time um to so many different children. So the investigations on these cases uh. while it seems simple on the outside, it. is very intense. It is very thorough and. I'm glad that the investigators here. took their time and found at least. everything that was caught on camera. >> Yeah. And I thought it was interesting. if it wasn't for that daycare worker who. was reviewing the footage. If it wasn't. for the daycare owner who turns over. everything to law enforcement, law. enforcement coming checking everything.

out. I mean, this you don't know when it. would have been detected. And is that a. situation where the footage should be. reviewed more regularly? Is that. something that needs to happen? >> Absolutely. We say this time and time. again. Um, since we've been doing these. cases as daycare and child injury. lawyers all over Texas, all over the. country, um, it is our one big pain. point in these daycarees is if you have. the surveillance, if you've taken the. time to put cameras in place, you need.

to be monitoring them. You need to be. watching them. It's as simple as that. Uh, and too many times they put them up. Um, and the daycare workers know that. they're not being watched. And what this. case specifically shows me and tells me. um with regard to that is it's a severe. lack of supervision because the. caregiver didn't feel like they were. ever going to be caught. They didn't. they they had no concern. uh about doing this knowing that cameras.

are right there. Um and we see that time. and time again. I mean it could be a. physical abuse case, a sexual abuse. case, a verbal abuse case. Um, it could. be just simply not watching kids and. being on their iPad and their their cell. phones and we're seeing it on camera. And the reason why they're not concerned. about it is because they know that. nobody's watching those cameras. So, it. is our one big thing in these cases that. when they have cameras, make sure. they're covering actual areas and make. sure somebody's watching them. Period.

End of story. >> So, let me get into this a little bit. more. I want to move into what happened. once this case got into the courtroom. because that's when things escalated. quickly because after months of. investigators reviewing hours and hours. of daycare surveillance video. documenting dozens of incidents with. multiple toddlers, Katherine Guzca. ultimately entered a guilty plea to. multiple counts of injury to a child. So. Russell, want to bring you back in here. because there is a lot to unpack when a. defendant is charged with child abuse, decides to plead guilty rather than go.

to trial. Okay, I want you to take a. listen to that formal plea. Uh, per KTV, >> you swear a firm testimony. You will. give us the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth without God. And. 475004625. to be charged of injury to a child is. led by the state against you to that. matter. How do you plead guilty or not. guilty? In. >> force at the same time, the launchments. will be the same. >> So from your perspective, why would she. do this? Why would a defendant in a case. like this choose to plead guilty instead.

of letting a jury decide when, look, I. believe it was reported a trial was. right around the corner, by the way, >> because they know that they're going to. be found guilty. Plain and simple. Uh, you just don't do this to kids. Um, it. it doesn't matter what's going on. You. don't kick, you don't assault, you don't. abuse children. Um, plain and simple. Uh, we all take that very seriously. It. is very serious in our daily work as. daycare and child injury lawyers. Um, parents care about that. They pay a lot. of money for these daycarees um to.

protect their kids while they're at. work. Uh, that is who our clients are. And in this specific case, um, you know, she wanted to probably try and wait, try. to fight it, try to see if she could get. off on a technicality. And thank God she. didn't. Um, and and when you have to. know that you're going to face a jury, that's when the truth is going to. prevail. And here it did by a guilty. plea. Um, now everybody thankfully knew. a lot because this has gotten a lot of. publicity um before that. Uh, but I'm.

very thankful that at the very least she. plead guilty um and and admitted her. stuff, but it still doesn't make it. right. Um, that it was allowed to go on. for so long. Uh, and and the the plea. itself um it just tells you that she. knew that she did this uh and she was. going to be found guilty by a jury of. her peers. What typically would be a. defense? >> There wasn't one here. Uh, plain and.

simple. I mean, the the the when you. have any sort of assault or abuse type. of situation, take two adults, uh, the. only thing that you can say is. self-defense, right? Or or provocation. They they provoke you. But these are. little kids. These are these are 1 2 3 4. 5 year olds. Um, you know, at a daycare. setting on a typical basis, not. including the summer after school stuff. You're talking little kids that can. barely communicate for themselves or. learning how to walk or trying to be. potty trained. I mean, it it's it's.

ridiculous to think that there ever. would be a defense. So, when she knew. she wasn't going to get off on a. technicality and they had everything put. on video in the bag, um she knew that. her only option uh was either getting. found guilty by the jury uh or pleading. guilty herself. And she chose the easier. route there. And look, you save the. time, aside from the time and expense of. a trial, you save a jury having to. review all this incredibly disturbing.

footage day in and day out. Um, so. here's what happens. This is what I want. to talk about. After the guilty plea, everything shifted to the sentencing. hearing. And this is where the courtroom. really felt the weight of what happened. because here's the moment the sentence. was handed down. This is per KTV. >> I'll assess her sentence in each one at. 10 years confinement. So, in the end, Katherine Guziesa, after all of that, was sentenced to 10 years in prison with. the judge ruling that her sentences for. each charge would be served.

concurrently. Now, Russell, 10 years is. a long time. Some might say, well, why. weren't some of them stacked on one. after the other? You know, why did it. serve the sentences at the same time? Why not consecutively? Thoughts? >> You know, I I hear we see this all the. time. Um, and I've said this time and. time again on all these types of uh uh. media and podcasts with regard to. criminal charges for things that people. do to kids at daycare. Um, to me it is.

underprosecuted. It is under reportported and the. penalties uh are far too um weak to be. honest with you. So we feel very. strongly um just like the judge here uh. that giving um a a sentence um giving. the maximum sentence uh is the best case. scenario here. Um but with regard to. concurrent versus consecutively meaning. serving them all at one time or serving. them one after another uh that is what.

the law allows that they can be served. concurrently. Again, uh we believe that. if you've made the decision, the. deliberate choice to do this to a not. just one child, but several different. children over a long period of time, then you deserve to serve each of those. sentences separately. Um but is 10 years. a long time? Uh for her, she might say. that. Uh to the parents who had their. children abused, I I I don't know that. they would I don't know that they would. agree with that. >> Do you think the guilty plea plays an.

outcome in uh sentencing? you know, as far as the guilty plea. playing an outcome in the sentencing, I. would say maybe sometimes. Um, I think. that literally just depends on if it's. an authentic uh guilty plea to own up to. something as opposed to just trying to. get out easy. Um, and a lot of that. comes with uh how long you drug this out. um and the judge that's that's sitting. there deciding your sentencing um and. the evidence in the case. Thankfully,

uh, we generally, um, when you have. something very serious, we want to make. sure that that evidence gets in front of. the judge. Um, and that way the sentence. actually matches the crime. Um, and so, uh, the the guilty plea, does it help. with the sentencing? I I I hope it. doesn't because I hope it doesn't let. them off easy for what they've actually. done and what they're owning up to. Uh, I think sometimes it does. Um, but I I. hope that the judges that are making.

those decisions aren't just taking a. guilty plea and giving them a lesser. sentence. >> And and I think it should be noted that. none of the children suffered. life-threatening injuries. Why do I say. that? Not to take away from what she. did, but that if they did, her charges. could have been, you know, much greater. We could have been talking an even. greater sentence. Um, but also, let's. talk about the civil arena, okay? Because in terms of potential civil. liability, a lawsuit, how could a. sentencing like this, how could an. outcome in the criminal context like.

this, how does that influence the family. or the families if they pursue claims. for damages? >> So, in in in every daycare and child. injury case, you know, there's three. buckets. There's the state. administration uh their investigation. and findings um in all these cases uh. just like there was done here. there is. the a criminal bucket um for actual. penal code charges uh penal code crimes. um just like here and then there is the. civil arena and that's the negligence.

and gross negligence um where the system. failed and that's really what this helps. for um you have a bad actor but bad bad. people are always going to be in our. community they're they're all over the. world they've been around for for. decades and decades and decades and. centuries what has to be done by these. daycarees and where they fail and where. the civil arena kicks in is when the. system doesn't protect the children and. when you don't follow the safety systems.

that these daycarees have. Yes, we have. minimum standards put out there by the. state, but they're just that. They're. just minimums. Um, and you have to take. it upon yourself as the owner, as the. director, uh, as fellow caregivers to. actually follow the system, put. different things into place, um, and. make sure that these bad apples don't. get in the door, and if they do, they. don't stay very long, and when you see. something that might even lead to. something that's bad, uh, you need to. address it and get them out the door.

These bad apples, uh, that was not done. here. And that's how something like this. can really help in the civil arena. because we gather all the evidence from. every agency uh in all of our daycare. and child injury cases. Anybody that. that talked to somebody, reviewed a. document, sent an email, talked to a. witness, we get names of former parents. and former uh employees, we interview. everybody. And so these these criminal. things really help because they'll hold. on to that evidence until there is a.

guilty plea or a conviction. and until. all appeals are exhausted, then we're. able to get that information. And so. that's how it really helps in the civil. case is we get to we get to use these. other investigations plus our own. independent one to really bring forth. and and get out there what failed in. that system. Why did this why was this. even allowed to happen? Cuz it never. should have. But but to be clear, when. there are episodes of abuse at a daycare. facility, even something like this, it's. not automatic that the daycare is.

responsible or did something wrong. There are things that if the proper. protocols are put in place, the person. appears to be trained, meets the. qualifications, um or is it just the number like you. when you say a hundred episodes, you you. can't excuse that. Or do you say look. there are there are times there are. circumstances where yes it shouldn't. have happened but it doesn't mean the. daycare is responsible because they did. everything they were supposed to do. I. mean how do we balance that? >> You know each case is different each.

situation is different. Uh when we see. these cases um and and we take them one. off on their own. Okay. When we see a. repeat history by a daycare that they. are failing to run background checks, they're failing to look at CPR. certifications, they have prior abuse, neglect, maybe by a different caregiver. on their prior violation history. You. know, when we see these things and. they're they're deficient in training, it leads us to believe and it tells us. that there's a problem in the system.

before this bad apple ever got there. So, can there be a situation where. somebody does something really small and. then they don't get stopped and it turns. into something bigger? That's exactly. what happened here. When you see. something, no matter what it is in. Texas, it they are mandatory reporters. All the adults at these daycarees and. schools, they are mandatory reporters of. suspected abuse. It doesn't mean that it. has to you have to actually know that it. was abuse. You got to let the people. come in and investigate that. And and.

that's where we see people go really. wrong. Is they say, "Oh, that kid wasn't. necessarily hurt." Or, "You know what? It didn't leave a bruise." We've heard. that before. We've seen it where the kid. didn't react negatively, so you know. what, we're not going to investigate. that. We're not going to report it. Those are the types of things that I'm. talking about that when they are allowed. to go on, then something really bad does. end up happening and a kid pays the. consequences, unfortunately. So, are. there things that can happen where you. have somebody that's qualified on their. face, they go through the initial.

training and they get into a daycare and. on and in theory they're okay? Sure, absolutely. But you can't just stop. there. You have to be monitoring them. daily. And that's where the systems. really fail in the civil arena is you as. the daycare owner and director are the. ones that's responsible for making sure. that these kids are safe on a dayto-day. basis because things change. and that. didn't happen here and we see that. across the board in our daycare cases. >> That's a good point. Um, look, thankfully, I mean, it's hard to even.

predict what these kids are going to be. going through uh as they continue their. lives and and the impact this had, but I. will just say thankfully she was stopped. at some point. You know, wasn't allowed. to continue even further because the. consequences could have been even more. dire and now she's going to pay the. price. Russell Button, thank you so much. for coming on, for breaking it down with. us. And again, thank you for the great. work that you do at the Button Law Firm. >> Thank you for having us, Jesse. Appreciate it. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always,

please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcast. You can follow me on X. or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time.