SANDY, Utah — A day care in Sandy has been closed by the Salt Lake County Health Department after a search revealed methamphetamine contamination, after two of its employees faced child pornography charges.
“It’s a nice, quiet, or used to be a nice, quiet neighborhood. It’s getting a little more crazier,” said neighbor John Egbert. “But neighbors I’ve spoken to are highly concerned and we have been over the last few years because of the activity at that residence.”
According to Egbert, this wasn’t the first time police have been the residence and he has seen drug activity there before. However, despite this history and their previous charges, the daycare was never shut down.
“Why was it still operating? Why didn’t the state step in and do something about the licensing?” Egbert said.
The Utah Attorney General’s office confirmed they served a search warrant this morning but wouldn’t give details.
Sgt. Clay Swenson with Sandy Police Dept. confirmed they helped serve the search warrant this morning at the at-home daycare as part of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. According to Swenson, the search warrant was pursuant to an investigation involving child pornography.
“Officers served that warrant, detained the people and collected evidence in conjunction with that warrant,” Sgt. Swenson said. “As they were searching the home for that evidence they discovered drugs, at that point we contacted the health department.”
According to Nicholas Rupp, spokesperson for Salt Lake County Health Department, Sandy police called the department just before 8 a.m. Monday morning. An inspection of the house determined there was a methamphetamine contamination.
“The most important point is that the property will remain closed to entry by the health department until it is decontaminated and follow-up sampling determines it is below the state’s legal limit for methamphetamine contamination and therefore doesn’t present a health hazard,” Rupp said.
Swenson said there were no children in the home at the time of the search warrant since it was so early in the morning. However, as the search continued, parents began to show up to drop off their kids only to find police serving a warrant.
“It was an active daycare until today,” Swenson said. “At this time we don’t believe that those kids would have been exposed…the daycare was operated in a separate portion of the home than where the drugs were located.”
According to a statement from the Utah Department of Health, “The provider was caring for fewer than five children, and as a result was not required to be licensed. However, the provider maintained a full child care license voluntarily. This allows the UDOH to have access to the facility and to provide regulatory authority.”
Police say there hasn’t been any formal arrests made yet. Both Sandy police and the Utah Attorney General’s Office said this was a new, separate case from the charges in February.
Kadence Pinder, 24, and Marcus Strebel, 29, were listed as employees at the time at the in-home daycare at 9194 Benson Way in Sandy. Both were charged in February for multiple counts of sexual exploitation of a minor; Pinder with 15 counts and Strebel with 10 according to court documents.
Daycare owner, Kelly Strebel declined to comment.
