DEKALB COUNTY, GA — A 79-year-old woman has been sentenced to 20 years to serve behind bars after pleading guilty to child cruelty charges in a daycare abuse case in Stone Mountain.
The case comes more than three years after a parent complained about injuries to her child’s face after staying at the Appletree Learning Center.
DeKalb police opened an investigation into alleged abuse at the daycare in June 2022. Investigators later found a total of 13 alleged victims ranging in age from six months to almost 3 years old.
Prosecutors say Cherretta Hull was caught on surveillance video pinching, slapping and punching babies with a closed fist at the Appletree Learning Center.
They say she also handled children in a rough manner, slamming them onto changing tables, tossing them into cribs, dropping them and forcefully picking them up by one arm.
Hull was indicted on 19 counts of first-degree cruelty to children in December of 2023.
Three other defendants in the case entered guilty pleas in 2024.
WSB Radio’s Bill Caiaccio contributed to this story.