The Latest: Day care closed after tot left in van 9 hours

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Latest on the investigation of a Kentucky day care centre that left a toddler in a van for nine hours overnight (all times local):

3:30 p.m.

Kentucky officials have ordered the immediate suspension of services at a day care centre where a 3-year-old boy was left alone in a van for more than nine hours.

The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services issued the suspension on Friday for the Precious Jewels School of Excellence. The agency cited the day care’s “failure to protect the health, safety and welfare of children.”

A woman who answered the phone at the day care centre refused to put the owner on the line, declined to comment and hung up.

Lexington Police spokeswoman Brenna Angel said the boy was in the van from 4:30 p.m. Wednesday to about 2 a.m. Thursday, when he was found still in his car seat in the van in the centre’s parking lot. He was not injured.

Cabinet records show it has investigated 23 complaints against the facility in the past four years.

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8:30 a.m.

The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services is investigating after police say a child was left inside a van for more than nine hours at a Lexington day care.

News outlets report that Lexington police say a woman told officers that her 3-year-old son was missing when she came home from work late Wednesday night.

The woman said the Precious Jewels day care was supposed to drop the boy off at 5 p.m.

Police contacted the day care owner who went to the business, which had been closed since 6 p.m., and found the boy still strapped in a seat inside the van parked outside. Paramedics checked out the child, who wasn’t hurt.

Authorities believe the child was inside the van from about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday to 2 a.m. Thursday.

No charges were immediately filed.