After a lengthy investigation by detectives of the Special Victims Bureau and the District Attorney’s Office, a former daycare teacher has been charged with unauthorized invasion of privacy after allegedly photographing the bare buttocks of a 2-year-old girl and then posting it on social media.
Kaitlyn Whittle, 22, of Castaic, was charged with the misdemeanor on May 29 by prosecutors with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
“We conducted our investigation and completed it in 2018,” said Sgt. Brian Hudson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Special Victims Bureau.
“Then, we turned it over to the DA,” he said Thursday, confirming prosecutors charged Whittle.
Prosecutors received the case from detectives in February.
In a misdemeanor complaint filed by prosecutors May 29, Whittle is alleged to have, “On or about Aug. 31, 2018,” contravened California Penal Code section 647(j)(1).
In October 2018, Hudson and his team began investigating reports a Santa Clarita Valley daycare teacher allegedly photographed a napping girl’s bare buttocks, then posted the photo on social media.
The incident allegedly happened on Aug. 31, 2018, at the Sunshine Child Care & Learning Centers on Wiley Canyon Road.
According to a person who complained to authorities on Sept. 12, 2018, about the alleged incident, the daycare teacher took photographs and video images of the napping girl using her cell phone.
A lawsuit was filed by the girl’s mother in November but she switched lawyers soon after. She now has a civil suit filed by a second law firm over the alleged incident.
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