A former daycare teacher arrested on suspicion of unauthorized invasion of privacy for allegedly photographing the bare buttocks of a 2-year-old girl and then posting it on social media appeared briefly in court Friday.
Kaitlyn Whittle, 22, of Castaic, was charged with the misdemeanor on May 29 by prosecutors with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
On Friday, she appeared at the Santa Clarita Courthouse, where she was scheduled to be arraigned on the charge.
Her arraignment, however, was rescheduled for Dec. 17, said Ricardo Santiago, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
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, Sgt. Brian Hudson of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Bureau 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 a daycare facility 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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