By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

Shelby County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested a local daycare employee on four counts of felony child abuse after concerned coworkers reported her actions to the authorities.

Brittney Nicole Wayland, 20, of Hoover, was arrested on Nov. 2 after she allegedly abused four children at a Shelby County church-run daycare facility located in the 4700 block of Valleydale Road.

Coworkers at the daycare facility reported the alleged abuse to the SCSO on May 29.
According to court documents, the alleged incidents of abuse occurred between June 2014 and June 2015.

After an investigation and interviews with the witnesses and four child victims, Wayland was charged with three counts of misdemeanor harassment and one count of misdemeanor assault SCSO deputy Debbie Sumrall said.

The charges were elevated to felonies after the case was brought in front of a grand jury on Oct. 9. The grand jury indicted Wayland on four counts of felony child abuse.

“This case was forwarded to the grand jury, and because of the number of victims, they decided to charge Brittney with four counts of willful abuse of a child,” Sumrall said.

According to the indictments, Wayland hit one child “in the face with her arm while on top of a table,” then shoved the child off the table; put a child in a dark bathroom and left him “for a long period of time;” physically restrained and force-fed a child; and force fed a child, then held “her hand over his face so he could not spit it out.”

Wayland was placed in the Shelby County Jail on Nov. 2 and was released the same day after posting an $80,000 bond.

Child abuse is a Class C felony. If convicted, Wayland could face up to 40 years in prison.