A nursery nurse convicted of child cruelty after running what was described as a “baby fight club” has been jailed for three years.
Kierra Spriggs, 26, was found guilty of abusing 2-year-olds she was responsible for caring for in a nursery in the United States.
She stood on their toes, slapped them with elastic bands, sprayed them with a hose, forced them to eat spicy food and made them fight each other.
The abuse, at the Minnieland Academy, happened in 2013 at the nursery’s “monkey room” for toddlers.
Spriggs was convicted alongside her colleague Sarah Jordan, 31, who was previously sentenced to two years in prison.
Authorities said the motive for the abuse remains uncertain but child protective officials implied it was for the women’s own entertainment.
Parents had reportedly testified that their kids became aggressive, stopped talking, or became closed off and frightful after their time in the monkey room.
Spriggs declined to speak during the trial but wrote in a letter to the judge: “I am whole-heartedly apologetic of the hurt, humiliation and embarrassment this tribulation has brought us all.”
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