Lehigh Acres daycare worker facing child abuse charge after witness reports classroom slapping

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. (WINK) — A Lehigh Acres daycare assistant teacher is facing a felony child abuse charge after a witness reported seeing her strike a 4-year-old child in the face inside a classroom.

Melanie Garcia, 21, was arrested last week at her home by Lee County Sheriff’s deputies following an investigation by the Special Victims Unit. Records show Garcia has since bonded out of jail.

The whistle on the incident was blown by Lillian Villa, who walked into the classroom at Grace Community School on Lee Boulevard to drop off her own little sister on May 6th. In an exclusive interview with Chief WINK Investigates Reporter Chorus Nylander, Villa described the moment she walked into what she called a nightmare.

“I felt like I wanted to cry, I had a lump in my throat. I was just shocked about what I just saw,” she said.

Villa said she witnessed Garcia slap a 4-year-old girl, grab her roughly by the arm, and force her into a corner. Shocked by what she saw, Villa immediately confronted staff members and brought the matter directly to law enforcement.

"I do feel like I did the right thing, because again, these are children around the age of three to five, and you know they don't have a voice to speak for themselves if something happened at school," Villa told WINK Investigates.

The subsequent LCSO investigation revealed a deeper procedural breakdown at the facility. State investigators with the Department of Children and Families (DCF) noted in the report that Grace Community School failed to notify law enforcement or the state child abuse hotline when the allegations were first brought to light by Villa.

Villa expressed deep frustration with how school leadership handled the situation.

"I'm disappointed on how the whole school handled it overall, where they were first not cooperating with the police," Villa said. "I feel like they should have taken action upon themselves to, you know, report this."

While child advocates cannot comment on the specifics of this open investigation, they note that Florida law leaves no room for hesitation when an adult suspects child care abuse.

"In the state of Florida, every adult is a mandated reporter," said Milana Weston, Director of Community Outreach at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Southwest Florida. "So it does state in the law that if you are an adult and you see something that's concerning, you should always be reporting on the child abuse hotline... Ultimately to me, when it comes down to a child's safety, it's always important to speak up and say something."

Grace Community School declined an on-camera interview but released a statement defending its initial response:

"Upon hearing the allegations, we immediately conducted a thorough internal review and investigation and found no evidence to support the allegations at this time. Law enforcement has since arrested and released a staff member at our Lehigh Acres location in connection with allegations involving a student. The staff member has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of law enforcement’s independent investigation. We are fully cooperating with authorities and cannot comment further on pending legal matters. The safety and well-being of our students is our highest priority."

Chorus Nylander reached out to Melanie Garcia over the phone to get her response to the felony charge, but she stated she had "no comment." Court records show Garcia is scheduled to appear before a judge for her formal arraignment on June 15th.

As for Villa, she tells WINK Investigates that her family's trust in the institution is completely broken. She has already permanently pulled her little sister out of the daycare facility.

WINK Investigates will continue to follow this case as it moves through the legal process.