Daycare aide Tiffany Hudder, 15, looks at a damaged screen at the Little Tykes Child Care Center on South Roop Street on Wednesday afternoon. The business was burglarized Tuesday night.
Everything appeared normal when Carrie Nelson awoke Wednesday morning and began preparing for her workday as owner of Little Tykes Child Care Center on Roop Street.
But when she opened the door to her 6-year-old business at 6:20 a.m., Nelson discovered just how abnormal the day would be.
"We got robbed," said Nelson, 42, a lifetime Carson City resident.
"When I first walked in all the closet doors were opened and between 70 and 80 children's videos were gone. They must have taken the pillowcases and just filled them with all the (compact disks) and video tapes."
Nelson said a number of the videos, all of which she bought for the center, were limited editions.
Also missing are two portable stereos, a small amount of cash and a sleeping bag. She estimates the value at between $2,500 and $2,700.
"I feel violated. How dare they take from my babies. There are some sick people in this world."
According to Carson City Sheriff's Chief Deputy Scott Burau, officers believe the burglars gained entry into the building at 2109 S. Roop St. through an unlocked window.
"The incident occurred sometime between Tuesday night at 7 p.m. and early Wednesday morning," Burau said. He said it appears the lights of a motion detector were unscrewed.
Nelson said before she entered the center, she had noticed the lights didn't work and climbed up to take them out. They were loose, and when she tightened them they worked. She believes the burglars disabled the lights.
A mother taking her children to the center on her way to work found the center closed off and the children being ushered into Nelson's private home next door.
"It was so sad," said Annette Garcia. "The kids got to school today and had to be taken into another room where they explained to them all the things the police were doing."
Garcia is outraged that someone would target a child-care center.
"Someone decided their greed was more important than the hearts of the children and they burglarized their home away from home," she said. "Kids shouldn't have to go through this."
Nelson said she will take extra precautions to prevent someone from breaking into the center again. In the meantime, without the CDs the children used in sing-a-longs, or players in which to play them, the days will seem a little longer.
"The person who did this is a pathetic person. You don't take from the children. That's just rude," she said.
"Hopefully the person who did this will see (the story) and feel bad and we'll find the videos and music on our doorstep the next day."
Anyone with information on the burglary is asked to call the Sheriff's Department at 887-2020.
