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Crime & Safety

Jailed Day Care Owner Already Lost License Once

Livermore center was reopened by sister under a new name in 2011, police say.

Livermore police today arrested two sisters on felony child abuse charges, claiming the women endangered the infants in their care at Universal Preschool.

Lida Sharaf, 33, of Mountain House, and Nazila Sharaf, 35, of Dublin, routinely bound the children so tightly that it constricted their breathing, according to a complaint filed with the Alameda County District Attorney. 

[Related article: Two Livermore Daycare Employees Arrested for Using Swaddling to Abuse Babies]

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Responding to a complaint by a 19-year-old former employee, who quit in disgust after two weeks, the Department of Social Services investigated and found multiple violations. The agency closed down the center, located at 1040 Florence Road, then sought the help of the Livermore Police, partly at her insistence.

"I was so impressed by this young lady's courage," said Livermore Police public information officer Steve Goard. "She felt she had to speak for the children since they couldn't speak for themselves."

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The women would bind the children, then tie blankets around them, which they secured with knots. In several instances, they also covered their faces with blankets, and left them in their cribs, for hours at a time, according to court records.

The children, who ranged in age from seven months to one year old, "did not have the ability to remove blankets that could have potentially blocked their air passages."

The women knew that three of the children suffered from upper respiratory conditions, and that "tightly binding a child with an upper respiratory condition seriously compromises a child’s ability to breathe, which could lead to death."

Neither woman had been previously arrested. However, Nazila Sharaf's day care license was revoked in 2010 -- at the same location and for the same reason, although it was called the Sunnyside Infant and Preschool. In 2011, her sister obtained a license and reopened the center under a new name.

A pediatrician who consulted told police the children were too old for swaddling, in which newborns are wrapped snugly in a blanket to increase their sense of safety and comfort.

In addition, Nazila Sharaf at least three times yanked a child by the arm in frustration and carried the child by the arm from place to place, risking a broken arm, torn ligament or spiral fracture, the report claims.

In the course of their investigation, police interviewed some 30 parents.

"There was no doubt this came as a bit of a shock to the parents," Goard said. "Abuse is almost an understatement. This wasn't close to swaddling. It was a recipe for disaster."

The women were booked into Santa Rita Jail, where they remain in lieu of$700,000 bail. 

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