Former Downers Grove day care center workers face battery charges

DOWNERS GROVE – Three former employees of a Downers Grove daycare center face misdemeanor battery charges, after they allegedly mistreated two infants under their care, according to a Downers Grove Police Department news release.

Maura Healy, 38, of the 3400 block of Elder Lane, Franklin Park; Stephanie Radke, 24, of the 600 block of Cambridge Way, Bolingbrook; and Mariah Flemister, 20, of the 200 block of Monroe Road, Bolingbrook, were charged with two counts of misdemeanor battery and endangering the lives or health of a child. Healy, Radke and Flemister worked at Little People Learning Center located on 2144 Curtiss St.

Little People Learning Center, which has been in Downers Grove for 25 years, offers care for children between the ages of six weeks to six years old, according to its official site.

Police say a surveillance video from the daycare center revealed the trio of women force-feeding two infants on separate occasions. The incidents took place between December 2018 and January of this year, Downers Grove police spokesman Bill Budds said.

Budds further defined the alleged force feeding as "forcing the food into the mouth, when it appeared that the child wasn't interested in eating."

Healy, Radke and Flemister are now out on bond; Healy was released after she posted 10 percent of her $5,000 bail, while Radke and Flemister posted 10 percent of their $3,000 bails.

Little People Learning Center declined to comment on the incidents.

The three women are set to appear in court on May 15 at the DuPage County Courthouse in Wheaton.