Three Arrested by NBPD for Child Abuse

New Braunfels Police Department [NBPD], on April 21, 2015, arrested three people on the charges of child abuse. Constance Joan Digiovanni, 51, was arrested on 20 counts of child endangerment and one count of failure to report the child abuse, the police said. In December 2014, the NBPD had opened an investigation on Joan Digiovanni after receiving reports that she was abusing children at a day care centre, Brilliant Starts Learning Academy in New Braunfels.

The owners of Brilliant Starts Learning Academy, Patricia and Randel Roman were also arrested on the count of failure to report the child abuse. The NBPD received a complaint from the parents of a child who suspected that their son was being abused at the day care centre.

Upon investigation by the NBPD officials, they found video footage revealing Joan Digiovanni slamming a child face-first into a mat on the floor at work.

David Ferguson, NBPD communications coordinator stated that the daycare centre staff fully cooperated with the investigations and provided them with two weeks of video footage. The footage revealed that five children were subjected to abuse which included the child whose parent’s had complained about it.

The court records show that Digiovanni’s indictments read as mistreated, manhandled and/or abused the children on or about December 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 16th. The document further reads that she restrained or pinned some of them against the ground with her leg; threw or pushed them down on a floor mat; pulled blankets out of their mouths; and/or grabbed or pulled their wrists and/or arms. It also states that on or about December 16th, each of the three adults knew a child had been abused and knowingly failed “to notify any local or state level law enforcement agency.  Further, with the intention to conceal the abuse, they did not inform the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.”