Edmonton police have charged a day home operator with five counts of abandoning a child after parents discovered their kids had been left home in the house.
Melissa Suley, 39, was charged on Nov. 30.
Police confirm there were five children left alone in the southwest Edmonton home.
Gordon Patzalek had two kids, three years old and 15 months, in Suley’s care. That day, he got a call from another parent, saying Suley was not at the house and the kids were alone.
When he got to the day home, police were already inside, talking to the kids.
“I knew once I saw them that they were OK,” Patzalek said of his children, “but that something serious definitely was happening for multiple police officers to be there, interviewing everybody.”
Patzalek took 30 minutes to arrive at the home. By the time he had finished giving his statement to police, the day home operator had returned, he said.
He didn’t speak with Suley.
“I didn’t really want to at the point,” he said.
“The fact that she left five children alone is just dumbfounding, I can’t imagine anybody doing it to one, let alone five.”
Something wasn’t right, parent says
In hindsight, Patzalek admitted there were signs something was amiss.
Recently, Suley’s husband was there when parents were picking up their kids, not Suley herself.
Patzalek was told she was out picking up her own kids from dance and skating.
“I know her children were actively involved in extracurricular activities, so at the time, I didn’t really think anything more of it.”
Suley had been recommended to Patzalek by a co-worker’s wife who also ran a day home. Suley had shown him paperwork to say she was licensed, he said. Patzalek’s daughter had been going there for two years.
Suley has not responded to interview requests. She’s due in court Jan. 9.
Patzalek has since put his children in daycare.