Lizandra Cosme, 32, was arrested Sunday and charged with five counts of aggravated battery of a child under 13 years causing great bodily harm. She is currently being held without bail and is scheduled to appear in court again December 26.
Cosme reportedly injured five two-year-old children December 1 at the Children's Learning Place daycare in Cook County, according to authorities.
Another woman, 27-year-old Susana D. Gonzalez, was charged with five misdemeanor counts of causing the circumstances of child endangerment.
Lissa Druss Christman, the daycare's spokeswoman, wrote in an email obtained by ABCNews7 that, "The wellbeing of our students is paramount. Upon learning of the alleged incident, we notified the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) immediately and terminated two of our employees. We are currently working with investigators."
During a recent hearing in a Cook County court, prosecutors said that Cosme brought a glue gun to the daycare to use on a Christmas project. Surveillance video revealed Cosme directly applying glue to the hands and arms of five children. An assistant who was in the room at the time reportedly stood by laughing while this took place.
"Each of the child victims winced and some whined at the hot glue gun application," a prosecutor said, also stating that Cosme applied Neosporin to one of the children's arms after noticing burn marks on the child's skin.
Later that day, Cosme, who has worked for with young children for 12 years, allegedly asked the father of one of the children who was burned whether his toddler was injured at home. According to prosecutors, this was an attempt by Cosme to conceal her actions.
The actual events of that day were only revealed after one of the burned children's mothers, who happens to be a physician, called the daycare director after noticing the burns and insisted that surveillance footage be examined.
Cosme's defense attorney claims that his client "screwed up," but had no malicious intentions.
