Court date set in day-care tape case

A Carson City day-care owner will be in court next month to determine if there's enough evidence to try her on charges of child abuse.

Norma Childers, 49, appeared Tuesday with attorney Ben Walker in Carson City Justice Court for an arraignment on two felony counts of child abuse. She is accused of taping shut the mouths of two children during nap time at Sugar 'N' Spice Day Care on Old Hot Springs Road in August.

Justice of the Peace John Tatro set the preliminary hearing for May 11.

No date has been set for Childers and her husband, Michael, to appear before for the Carson City Board of Supervisors to argue against revocation of their child-care license.

The couple was served with an order Thursday from the Carson City Environmental Health Department to cease operation, after a review of the license application - allegedly signed by Norma Childers' sister Eva Sulprizio - had an omission about Norma Childers' elder-care license revocation in California and the fact that she also held an elder-care license in Carson City.

In a letter requesting an appeal hearing on the revocation, Carson City attorney Todd Russell said the omissions were an oversight.

On the March 17, 2003, application for Sugar 'N' Spice Day Care the "No" box is checked under the question, "Are you or anyone listed in this application now licensed or have been previously licensed for the care of children or adults?"

"While it is true Eva Sulprizio, who completed the application, 'incorrectly' checked a 'No,' ... there was no intent by the parties to withhold any information as to the prior licensing matter in Carson City," Russell wrote.

"As to the California agency order, it pertains only to California; and, it was apparently overlooked by Eva Sulprizio."

According to Dustin Boothe with the health department, Sulprizio is no longer a partner in the day care.

A phone number for her in the phone book does not take incoming calls.

In 2000, the Childerses were acquitted by a jury on felony abuse and neglect charges at Nevada Cares, a nursing home in Carson City.

Although no charges were ever brought against the Childers in dozens of allegations of wrongdoing in the California case, they signed a stipulation on Nov. 11, 2000, agreeing the state had cause to revoke their license. Those causes included failure to provide adequate care to their clients, underskilled staff, failure to report injuries and violation of personal rights of clients, among other things.