The operator of two day cares in the Bronx pleaded guilty this week to forging documents to obtain operating licenses from the city, eventually stealing nearly $1 million in tax subsidies while simultaneously putting hundreds of children in her care in danger.
The Daily News reports that Adriana Becerril pleaded guilty to forging a teaching certificate and a fingerprint check to the city's Health Department before opening her first Little Angels Daycare Center on Matthews Avenue in Allerton in 2009. In 2013, she opened a second day care center, also using false records, in Morrisania.
The day care centers, which served children ages 2 to 5, also received $918,000 in city funds from January 2009 to December 2015.
The city issued a number of violations against Little Angels Daycare Center in October, noting that, among other things, the center was operating with an expired permit, that children were not adequately supervised, that appropriate child activity was not provided by child care service, and that children were being inappropriately disciplined.
Becerril pleaded guilty to two fraud counts for filing forged documents; she will cede ownership of the day care centers, pay a fine and serve 3 years probation.
