Kids at SC daycare often left to fend for themselves, some were beaten, cops say
Two women who worked at a daycare facility in South Carolina were recently arrested on child abuse charges, according to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
Sumter residents Candice Elizabeth Hudson, 19, and Denetra Bracey, 45, each were charged with unlawful conduct toward a child, the sheriff’s office said Tuesday in a news release. Bracey was arrested on one count Monday, while the teenage child abuse suspect was charged with four counts the same day, according to the release.
Both Bracey and Hudson were booked into the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center, and have been released on bond, the sheriff’s office said. Information about their bonds was not available.
Hudson and Bracey worked at the Care-A-Lot Daycare in Dalzell, according to the release. That’s at 4215 Thomas Sumter Highway/U.S. 521, which is in the area near Shaw Air Force Base. The daycare offers preschool for 2- and 3-year-old children, as well as 4k classes for 4-year-olds, according to its website.
The sheriff’s office said it was contacted by the South Carolina Department of Social Services, which was watching surveillance video from October of the Care-A-Lot Daycare for a separate case and witnessed the abuse, according to an incident report.
The footage showed children being abused by Hudson, the incident report said. That included:
- Pulling on the back of a chair where a child was sitting until it fell over with the child still seated
- Kicking the chair over, again with the child sitting in it
- Later using her wrist to slap the same child on the head
- Picking up a child and slamming it to the floor
- Later grabbing a child by the face and squeezing aggressively from his chin to cheeks
Information about the victims’ conditions was not available.
Bracey was not involved in the abuse, but appeared to see what was happening and chose not to intervene or report it, according to the incident report.
Beyond the abuse, the footage showed the children were frequently left unsupervised and “were taking care of themselves,” the incident report said.
Despite the arrests, the sheriff’s office said it’s continuing to investigate the child abuse at the daycare. There are more surveillance videos to be reviewed, according to the incident report.
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This story was originally published December 17, 2025 at 10:36 AM with the headline "Kids at SC daycare often left to fend for themselves, some were beaten, cops say."
