A 52-year-old daycare owner, Sally Dreckmann, as well as three of her employees, 51-year-old Traci Innie, 23-year-old Kaitlin Filardo, and 23-year-old Jessica Foster, have been arrested after allegedly sprinkling melatonin on children’s food.
According to ABCNEWS, the Manchester police, in a statement released on Thursday, said that a lengthy investigation into the incident began in November 2023 when police in Manchester, New Hampshire, received a report alleging “unsafe practices going on in an in-home daycare at 316 Amory Street.
The statement read, “Through the investigation, police determined that the children’s food was being sprinkled with melatonin without their parent’s knowledge or consent.
“The hormone melatonin plays a role in the sleep-wake cycle. Natural levels of melatonin in the blood are highest at night. Some research suggests that melatonin supplements might help treat sleep disorders, such as delayed sleep phase. They also may provide some relief from insomnia and jet lag,” according to the Mayo Clinic. “Melatonin is generally safe for short-term use. Unlike with many sleep medications, with melatonin, you are unlikely to become dependent on it, have less response to it after repeated use, or experience a hangover effect.”
However, It is currently unclear how long the daycare workers were dosing the children’s food with the drug or how much they were giving them. Police also did not disclose how the practice was initially discovered.
Arrest warrants were issued for all the suspects, who all hailed from Manchester, and they turned themselves in to the police, and all four of them were charged with ten counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
The investigation into the case is currently ongoing.
