Investigation into a Montrose daycare after infant was found in a closet

UPDATE: The Montrose Police Department has confirmed that Tess Warner has been summoned to court on child abuse charges.

Montrose Police Department and Child Protective Services have confirmed an investigation into a Montrose daycare.

"Every time I actually pick her up, she's sleeping. And they put her upstairs which they initiated her going to the second floor, two days into her daycare, because they say she cries," says the child’s mother, Lora Hood.

This after a mother, Lora Hood, says when she went to pick up her baby daughter at the end of the day, she never imagined she'd find her in a closet. KKCO 11 News was told Little Tots Daycare was in the middle of a routine inspection by the state when the 15-month year old was discovered in the closet.

"I opened that door and in the dark she was sitting in a pack n’ play, awake, empty bottle, but no pillow, no blanket. I didn't see a baby monitor in the closet," says Hood.

Lora says the daycare owner, Tess Warner, was not at the business at the time and says the only supervision over the children was an assistant.

"Tess states she has 25 years of experience in providing child care, she's licensed for overnight care, she's licensed for special needs children," says Hood.

Another dad, Kevin Gambill, says he had a similar experience at Little Tots almost two years ago. He says his baby daughter was also left in a dark closet by herself.

"Upon entering the daycare, I heard a loud screaming coming from upstairs. I didn't see anybody around," says Gambill," [She was] Bright red, blotchy: you could tell that she had been crying for a long time. She had poop running down her leg because her diaper hadn't been changed all day. The room was very, very hot. Probably in the 90 to 100 degree range,"

Kevin says his daughter, now 4 years old, is seeing a psychologist. He says his daughter remembers the experience.

“[She] told us about the closet and how much that was tormenting her and just how upset she was from it,” says Gambill.

Both families say they made contact with the owner after each of their separate incidents. They say Warner claims she had to leave her house due to an emergency both times.

Now both families are hoping that by sharing their story, they can prevent the same experience from happening to another child.

"The most important thing is just trying to figure out where this gap is in the lack of care. Why it's happening and try to fix it," says Hood.

After talking to Montrose PD, they are still in the gathering stages of the investigation, and have not presented the DA office with official charges yet.