Cary police have charged "nanny-cam" nanny Stephanie Merrill with two misdemeanor counts of child abuse.
Police and the Wake County District Attorney's office decided to charge Merrill, 26, after viewing a day's worth of video of her with the 7-month-old twins for whom she was caring at Lindsay Addison's home, police said.
Merrill was charged with two counts of "child abuse – putting a child at risk for injury" and released without bond pending a May 1 arraignment in Wake County District Court, chief Pat Bazemore said.
Police initially had reviewed only part of the video and had talked with Merrill about her handling of the children but did not charge her.
“Unfortunately and like folks throughout the nation, Cary Police only saw bits and pieces of the day’s video in the media for a full week before our requests for a full copy of the evidence were fulfilled. Once we had the information we needed, we were able to work effectively with the DA to bring this incident to an appropriate close,” Bazemore said.
The video was recorded Feb. 11 by a hidden "nanny cam" that Addison had installed so she could check in on her sons after she went back to work. She had been home with the twins, born prematurely, for several months before returning to work.
Addison hired Merrill based on an interview and references. After watching Merrill on a Web video link, Addison was upset, went home and fired the nanny. She called Cary police and showed them some of the video.
After police got the entire video later, they went to the district attorney for a decision about whether there were grounds to file charges. should be filed.
