A Long Island babysitter has been arrested after ignoring the warnings on a generic brand of Benadryl and giving the allergy medicine to a 4-month-old in her care. But there's something to be said for paranoia, because Anneliese Brucato was caught by the girl's mother on one of four hidden cameras placed around their home. Nassau County Detective Lt. Kevin Smith said Brucato gave the child the medicine, which isn't supposed to be administered to anyone under the age of four, "in order to cause the child to become drowsy, to make her more manageable and to perhaps make her job easier."
Mother Cynthia Schafer says she became suspicious after finding her daughter restless at nights. A doctor told her the girl had been sleeping a lot during the day. Schafer said in an affidavit that after she saw Brucato give her daughter a few drops of liquid out of a bottle, she bolted home: "I told her to tell me what she put in her pocket or I would call the police. She then said it's in her jacket pocket. She pulled out a bottle of [antihistamine]."
Brucato has pleaded not guilty to assault in the second degree and endangering the welfare of a child, and her lawyer said, "This is so out of character [for Brucato]. I truly believe this is just an aberration." Brucato had worked as a nanny for ten years, and police are looking for other families she used to work for. Brucato knew the house was wired with surveillance cameras, but didn't know where they were. She also said she had given the child medicine "a couple of times over the last few weeks." Next time, just use whiskey.
