Two owners of an Alexandria daycare business were arrested outside the Weenie Beenie in Shirlington last week, accused of the reckless endangerment of children.
Around 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, police received several calls for a vehicle containing numerous young children who were not in proper children’s car seats. Police pulled the vehicle over as it was leaving the Weenie Beenie parking lot on the 2600 block of Shirlington Road, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck.
Inside the 2004 Ford Explorer, officers found seven children, ages 5 months to 3 years, and, according to police, “none of them were buckled in with any type of safety restraints.” One child was on the lap of a woman in the front passenger seat, four were in the back seat, and two were in the rear cargo area, Sternbeck said.
Two Alexandria women — Betty Ross, 34, and Cassandra Lewis, 37 — were arrested and charged with seven counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Ross and Lewis, who own a home-based daycare business in Alexandria, were released on a summons.
“None of the children were physically injured, and all of the children were returned to their parents,” according to the ACPD crime report.