A former Lyons daycare worker was indicted by a Toombs County Grand Jury last week on charges dating back to 2023.

Nicole Kathleen Cabrera worked for the Step by Step Child Care and Learning Center when an investigation against her was opened by the Lyons Police Department in November 2023 after complaints were filed by parents about injuries to their children, most of whom were less than a year old. Cabrera was arrested in late December 2023 on the charges.

Lyons Chief of Police Wesley Walker said at the time of her arrest that the investigation showed nine victims and Cabrera was charged with nine felony counts of cruelty to children.

Last week  Grand Jurors formally indicted her on all 9 counts of cruelty to children in the first degree, and three counts of aggravated battery.

The indictment documents a common thread of Carbera allegedly “shoving, snatching, throwing, and slamming” the children who are named in the indictment. Three of those infants suffered disfigurations to their skulls after Cabrera allegedly left them so long unattended in infant swings, beds, cribs, or bouncers.

Cabrera was terminated from the day care and taken into custody at her home in Collins by the Tattnall County Sheriff’s Office and transferred to the Toombs County Sheriff’s Office where she was later released.

Since Cabrera’s arrest in December 2023, Step-by-Step Day Care has had its share of problems, including being forced to shut down in an emergency closure as ordered by the Georgia Department of Early Care and Leaning in March after the state agency determined the center violated the rules for childcare, thus placing the health, safety, or welfare of children in imminent danger.

The center remains closed.