Day care owner accused of keeping babies tied to car seats

MESQUITE, Texas -- The owner of a Dallas-area in-home day care center has been jailed on child endangerment charges after she was accused of keeping infants and toddlers tied to their car seats for hours.

An arrest warrant affidavit alleges that Rebecca Anderson kept the small children tied up in car seats for at least seven hours a day at her Mesquite, Texas, day care center, Becky's Home Child Care. The affidavit also says the 60-year-old woman yanked a 6-month-old child by the bib around his neck, tied laces around the young children's necks to limit their movement and gave them acetaminophen to quiet them.

Police searched her home after Anderson was caught on a hidden camera possibly abusing a baby in a car. She allegedly yanked the baby out of the seat by his ankle and fed the child an unknown substance by syringe.

Neighbors say they sometimes heard children screaming.

"It just kind of concerned me the way the kids sounded when the parents dropped them off, where it alarmed me," one neighbor said.

Anderson was booked Sunday night into the Dallas County jail on nine counts of child endangerment with bonds totaling $45,000. Jail records list no attorney for her.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.