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Woman arrested for child abuse at daycare sentenced to 30 days in jail, 5 years of probation

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Debbie Ann Allard, 56, has been sentenced to 30 days in jail, followed by five years of probation, after entering a plea of nolo contendere to child abuse without great bodily harm. Adjudication of guilt was withheld by Judge David Kreider.

Allard was reportedly caught on surveillance cameras on June 6, 2022, at Cuddly Kids Daycare, carrying a 3-year-old child by her shoulders and then “aggressively” tossing her onto a cot on the floor. The child reportedly “flew back onto the cot and her legs flew into the air.” The child reportedly hit her head on the corner of the cot when she landed. The camera reportedly showed the child sitting up, holding the back of her head, as Allard walks away. At the time the report was written, the child had been taken to an emergency room and was not seriously injured.

Allard was reportedly immediately terminated from the daycare but quickly got a job at a different daycare facility before charges were filed.

Post Miranda, Allard reportedly admitted to the incident, saying she had been frustrated with the child and that her finger had locked up as she carried her to the cot, causing the child to slip out of her hand. She reportedly said she stepped away to calm down and did not immediately check on the child because she was trying to get the other children down for their naps. Allard has reportedly worked at five different daycare facilities.

Allard was booked into the Alachua County Jail on May 4. The terms of her probation after release include the completion of an anger management class and prohibitions against working in any daycare facility or having any unsupervised contact with minors.

  • Absolutely a miscarriage of justice in this case. Video tape does not lie. It doesnt matter that your knuckle dragging finger locked up. You still threw a 3 year old down because you were frustrated and could not control your anger. You then your violent actions because you needed other kids to go to sleep. Pasty face Debbie has no business around childern and should never work in a daycare or baby sitting setting. Judge Kreider then withholds adjudication to make it look like it never happened. Unbelievable.

    • The judge should have added the elderly or disabled along with not working with children.

      • Gene, I have three. I have had to discipline all if them at one time or another growing up. I never threw one across the room. I never hit them so hard they had to go to the hospital. I never had DCF called up on me. You would never see me abusing them on tape. All my kids have gone to daycare and after school programs and there was never an issue with a worker beating my child. You are stupid but hey, you won the idiot award today, enjoy.

  • PARENTS, do not discipline THEIR Children anymore, they think that their child acting up is cute, I got news for these idiots, it isn’t cute, do what the BIBLE tells you to do, teach your child. I am not defending this lady, because I do not know the circumstances of the incident, I’m just sayin.

    • If you have to say ” I am not defending this lady”, it usually means that you are. If you can not handle kids and their behaviors then you should not work in a daycare. I don’t like customer service therefore I don’t have a job in customer service… get it?

    • Read story again. There was video of it, plus she admits to the violence except she blames her thumb locking up.

  • Wth?!? Stop putting grown a** people’s feelings before the safety of children!!!! Ridiculous sentence!

  • 30 days in jail? That’s ridiculous. The woman abused the trust placed in her by parents and that poor child!

  • Wasn’t she in that movie Misery? Seriously, anyone who has had children who have been in contact with her should think back if their kid had any unexplained bruises and maybe look in to it.

  • If daycares charge so much, why can’t they hire less scary staff?

  • She was my child’s daycare teacher before this incident happened. I talked to her frequently and she seemed to be a great teacher. It’s unfortunate she lost her cool with a baby girl.

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