A day care owner and three of her employees in New Hampshire turned themselves in to authorities after being accused of sprinkling melatonin on children’s food, Manchester police said.
The owner of the day care, Sally Dreckmann, 52, and the employees — Traci Innie, 51; Kaitlin Filardo, 23 and Jessica Foster, 23, all of Manchester — are charged with 10 counts each of endangering the welfare of a child, police said in a Facebook post last week.
Detectives in November received a report “alleging unsafe practices going on in an in-home daycare,” police said. “Through the investigation, police determined that the children’s food was being sprinkled with melatonin without their parent’s knowledge or consent.”
Arrest warrants were issued for the suspects, police said.
Dreckmann was released on $400 cash bail and will be arraigned on June 10, according to NBC Boston. Innie and Foster were both released on personal recognizance bail and have court dates of June 6. No details were available on Filardo’s bail or court date, the news outlet reported.
It was not immediately clear Monday afternoon if the four defendants retained lawyers. Dreckmann, Innie and Filardo could not be reached for comment. Foster declined comment Monday afternoon.
The brain produces the hormone melatonin in response to darkness, according to the National Institutes of Health. Melatonin helps with circadian rhythms, the body’s 24-hour internal clock, and with sleep, the federal agency said. Melatonin supplements are frequently marketed as a sleeping aid, but the NIH cautioned there aren’t many studies on the effects of melatonin on children.
Melatonin is available over the counter and is generally safe to use in the short-term, and unlike with some sleep medications, users are unlikely to become dependent on it, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The NIH advises that parents who are considering giving their children melatonin should first speak with a health care provider because over-the-counter use of it might pose a risk for accidental or intentional overdose.
A 2022 study determined reports to U.S. poison control centers for people 19 years and younger who took melatonin dramatically increased from 8,337 in 2012 to 52,563 in 2021, the national center said.
Hospitalizations for people 19 years and younger also increased over that time frame. A significant increase in hospitalizations involved teens who intentionally overdosed, but the largest increase in hospitalizations involved children 5 or younger, according to the national center.
In February, a former day care director in Indianapolis was sentenced to six months in jail after pleading guilty to giving melatonin gummies to children without their parents’ consent.