Editor’s note: This article contains descriptions of child abuse. If you suspect a child is being abused or neglected, call the Indiana Department of Child Services’ Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline at 1-800-800-5556. The hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All adults are mandated reporters in Indiana.
A Brownsburg day care center knew about sexual abuse allegations against an employee for more than a year but failed to act, according to the investigators who found more than 130 images documenting the abuse on the employee’s phone.
Main Street University 4 Kidz was shuttered by state officials on May 8, two days after one of its employees was arrested on accusations of child molestation. During their investigation, detectives uncovered that leadership had been made aware of the employee’s abuse allegations at least three times, beginning in April 2024. They never contacted law enforcement or the Department of Child Services.
In the time between when day care leadership was notified of the allegations and when police launched an investigation, the employee is accused of abusing an unknown number of children.
The employee, Gabriel Garner, was arrested on May 6 on preliminary charges of child molestation. He remained detained as of 3 p.m. May 8. The Hendricks County Prosecutor’s Office will make final charging decisions.
Garner, 22, began working at the day care center in 2021. Investigators are asking parents who believe their children may have been abused to contact the DCS hotline at (800) 800-5566 or Brownsburg Police at (317) 852-1109, ext. 2123.
The day care’s owner, Nancy Minton, did not respond to a request for comment.
“We are devastated for these families, and horrified by the magnitude of this abuse,” said attorney Catherine Michael, whose firm is representing families of children who attended the day care. “No child should ever endure what these children have suffered, especially in a daycare setting that is supposed to protect them and ensure their safety. The betrayal of trust here is unspeakable.”
How the investigation began
On Feb. 20, 2025, a day care employee whose daughter attends the school received a text from Garner. The message was a joke about her 3-year-old daughter having a “foot fetish” because the girl was touching a sock. She’d heard concerns about Garner before from other staffers and decided to report the off-color joke to her supervisor.
When managers didn’t report her concerns to DCS, she called the agency and began gathering information on her own. At least three times, managers had failed to alert the state agency about abuse allegations, she told police.
She recorded two conversations with the day care’s manager, who explained “they do their own in-house investigations and if there is no acting out by the child and no proof on video, they do not contact DCS,” according to court documents. Day care workers are required to report allegations even if they believe they’re unfounded.
The mother called DCS and took those recordings to the Brownsburg Police Department, which began investigating.
Parents tell police their concerns were dismissed
In November 2024, a 5-year-old girl told her parents that her day care teacher had molested her. Her parents immediately took their concerns to the school.
But according to court documents, the girl’s mother “let the school convince her that nothing happened.” Staff said there had been other complaints about Garner that were later recanted.
Main Street University’s owner, Minton, and manager, Jennyfer Lingbeck, showed the parents surveillance footage of the classroom that didn’t capture anything untoward. There were about five minutes when the alleged abuser was the only employee in the classroom and not visible on video, but the mother recalls that the day care’s owner said it’s “not possible to have done anything to a child in that time.” Police allege the girl’s abuse occurred at a “sensory table” located in an area not visible to cameras.
About a month ago, state investigators contacted the 5-year-old’s mother after learning from police about the new allegations. The mother again asked to meet with day care leadership. In that meeting, Minton said they didn’t contact police at the family’s request, according to court documents. Contacting the police wasn’t optional, the detective notes.
The whistleblower’s recorded conversation referenced two other accusations that were not reported to police or the state. The accusations are not described in detail, but a violation report from the state’s day care licensing agency cites failure to report abuse in April 2024, November 2024 and February 2025.
Police find child sex abuse material on employee’s phone
Police interviewed Garner on May 2. He referenced two separate allegations of abuse against 5-year-old girls, but said leadership investigated both accusations and “nothing came of it.”
During questioning, police noted, his demeanor was off-putting. “He was cotton mouthed, his lips appeared to be dry, extremely nervous and was laughing,” court documents state.
When asked if he’d had any of the children touch him, he hesitated before responding, “not that he can remember.” He also “became extremely uncomfortable” when police said the classroom’s surveillance camera captured footage from multiple angles, the affidavit for his arrest stated.
As Garner got up to leave the interview, police took his phone. When he learned that they’d be looking at photos, “I could see a change in his demeanor,” the investigator wrote.
A forensic analysis turned up over 130 images geotagged to Main Street University 4 Kidz, taken between 2023 and 2024.
“The images are vile in content,” the detective wrote.
Around 125,000 pornographic images found on the man’s phone are still being processed. The employee was connected to a group chat used for trading child sex abuse material, though court documents do not allege that images taken at the day care were disseminated online.
‘A conscious and systemic decision’
“This was not just a failure by one individual. This was a failure of supervision, safety, training, and a systemic failure to follow the law,” the families’ attorney said in a prepared statement. “The management’s alleged refusal to notify the authorities after receiving warnings is a clear failure to report suspected abuse. These children were left vulnerable knowingly and that is unforgivable.”
Indiana requires that people working in daycares be at least 18 years old, have a high school diploma and possess the ability to read and write. They must also pass a background check. A search of online court records indicates Garner did not have a prior criminal history.
A letter sent from the state authorities to Main Street University’s management on May 8 called the failure to report abuse “a conscious and systemic decision by child care management.”
The Family and Social Services Administration, which oversees the state’s child care facilities, can cite businesses for violations without requiring them to shut down. In November 2024, police filed charges against a woman accused of physical abuse at a different day care in Westfield. The facility was put on probation, but not closed, after the state regulatory agency found the abuse wasn’t reported promptly. The woman was fired and court documents don’t allege a pattern of unreported abuse.
A representative from the Family and Social Services Administration, which oversees the state’s day cares, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the Brownsburg case. The agency’s previous inspections of the facility had never uncovered abuse.
On May 1, Gov. Mike Braun signed a new law that requires law enforcement to investigate allegations that institutions like schools, day cares and gyms failed to report abuse to authorities. It also restricts who can delegate the reporting duty to another person. The law was inspired in part by a 2016 IndyStar investigation of USA Gymnastics’ repeated failure to report abuse at the hands of team doctor Larry Nassar.
The law goes into effect on July 1.
How to learn more, get help
Parents seeking information about childcare providers can view enforcement actions on FSSA’s website.
Indiana law requires all adults who suspect child abuse or neglect to report their concerns to law enforcement or to DCS at 1-800-800-5556.
Ryan Murphy is the communities reporter for IndyStar. She can be reached at rhmurphy@indystar.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Court docs: Indiana daycare alerted to sexual abuse a year ago, didn’t call police
Reporting by Ryan Murphy, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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