Disturbing video shows taxpayer-funded babysitter brutally beating NYC tots with a belt — and horrified family demands answers

New York Post

6 days ago

Disturbing surveillance video obtained by The Post shows a city-funded babysitter repeatedly walloping three little kids with a belt and donning a creepy Santa Claus costume to scare them — and the horrified family is now demanding answers.
La'keysha Jackson, 24, began working for Bronx mother Geraldine Jaramillo a year ago via a contractor paid for by city's Administration for Children's Services that provides struggling families with babysitters to help with caretaking.
9 A shocked family says that babysitter La'keysha Jackson – paid for by a city program – was discovered regularly beating three kids under 6-year-old, according to video footage.
Courtesy Daniel Szalkiewicz
The single mom said she discovered the violent treatment last month when the kids' grandma checked a home surveillance camera in the bedroom — and was horrified to learn that the babysitter was secretly beating the children, boys ages 2, 4 and 6.
But despite the family reporting the horrifying behavior to ACS and the NYPD — and Jackson getting charged with a pair of felonies — she has yet to be arrested, the family said.
The video shows her beating two of the crying children nearly 60 times, according to a notice of claim filed by Jaramillo's attorney Monday indicating her intent to sue.
In the footage from May 6, the brutal babysitter can be seen whipping the underwear-clad children's behinds and restraining their tiny arms as they try in vain to deflect the blows.
'Guess what's about to happen,' she can be heard saying, apparently upset that the two older kids, aged 4 and 6, did not clean up their room.
'Belt?' one of the young boys answers as Jackson, wearing a T-shirt with the words 'Heaven Sent,' pulls a thick brown belt out of a cross-body bag.
'You're right — I warned y'all,' she replies cheerily, chillingly adding: 'Drop 'em.'
9 La'keysha Jackson was considered a member of the family for the year she worked with them through a taxpayer-funded program.
Facebook / Lakeysha Jackson
9 But secretly, Jackson was donning grotesque costumes and beating the children while the single mom was at work.
Courtesy Daniel Szalkiewicz
The babysitter also bizarrely wore a grotesque Halloween mask and a Santa Claus outfit — which Jaramillo discovered in her home — to apparently frighten the children, footage shows.
Jackson was employed by home aid provider Selfhelp, contracted by the troubled ACS, through its homemaking program that provides struggling city families with a babysitter to help with caretaking, according to Jaramillo and documentation shared with The Post.
But what was supposed to be miraculous help turned into a living nightmare for the mom, who first got connected with the homemaking service while fleeing a domestic violence situation, she said.
Until her own mom found the video, Jaramillo said she and her parents considered Jackson a member of the family, celebrating holidays together and letting her sleep in a spare bedroom occasionally to avoid the long trek back to Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn from the Bronx.
9 Jaramillo told The Post that Jackson, pictured, was the second sitter sent to the family after the first from the same ACS-contracted agency was discovered drinking and smoking at a playground while watching the kids.
Facebook / Lakeysha Jackson
9 A still from a graphic video showing Jackson taking out a belt before beating the two young children a total of 58 times.
Courtesy Daniel Szalkiewicz
But the family then came to learn 'she was beating the kids every other day,' said the kids' grandpa Rudy Enamorado, who drove two hours from his Pennsylvania home once he saw the footage.
'Hitting the kids with the [clothes] hangers, hitting them with belts, throwing the baby,' Jaramillo recounted, claiming that the babysitter also doled out emotional and verbal abuse to the children.
The kids are now scared to take off their clothes, leave their bedroom — or even use the bathroom.
9 The last text message sent by Jackson to the single mom after the May 6 incident.
Courtesy Daniel Szalkiewicz
'They say the bathroom is scary,' Jaramillo told The Post, 'we don't understand why.'
The boys are also now intensely aggressive with each other, fighting, hitting and even sitting on the baby to the point of suffocation, the mom said.
'They're so traumatized,' Jaramillo said. 'I don't know where they're learning these things, I don't know if they're repeating stuff that was happening to them.'
9 The children cried and screamed as they were wailed upon by their city-funded caretaker.
Courtesy Daniel Szalkiewicz
Jackson was the second sitter sent to the family after the first from the same ACS-contracted agency was discovered drinking and smoking at a playground while watching the kids, Jaramillo claimed.
'The worst thing we did was let our guard down,' said grandfather Enamorado.
Jackson did not reply to requests for comment, but in her last text message to Jaramillo, shared with The Post, she professed her 'love' for the boys.
'It's a learning experience for us all,' the message said. 'I am their number one supporter when it comes to their safety and well being.'
It's unclear how much Jackson was paid, but Selfhelp currently has a $1.23 million contract with ACS for homemaking services, records show.
Jaramillo alleged that after the May 6 incident, ACS opened an investigation into her — instead of Jackson — claiming she lacked documentation from the kids' hospital visit that day.
An ACS spokesperson did not address that claim, but said that Jackson no longer works for Selfhelp and that ACS was working with the NYPD in its investigation.
'We are taking these despicable actions very seriously, and we have commenced a review of the contracted provider's procedures,' the rep said.
A Selfhelp spokesperson confirmed that Jackson had been terminated and that the company is fully cooperating with the NYPD, claiming that it performs drug testing and background checks on all their workers.
9 Jackson did not reply to requests for comment, but in the last text message to Jaramillo, she professes her 'love' for the boys.
Courtesy Daniel Szalkiewicz
Police sources said cops attempted to arrest Jackson Monday morning on assault and child endangerment charges, but were unable to.
9 Jackson's brother told a Post reporter outside of their Bed-Stuy home that what the video depicted was normal in Black families.
Facebook / Lakeysha Jackson
Jackson's brother told a Post reporter outside of their Bed-Stuy home that what the video depicted was normal in Black families.
'Abuse my ass,' he said Monday, 'That happens in black families all the time.'
Jaramillo, whose aunt is now helping with childcare, said she wants justice for her kids — and to figure out what exactly happened in her home.
'I really want to get to the bottom of this.'