A daycare worker accused of burning several toddlers with a hot glue gun at a Chicago daycare was arrested and denied bail Monday.

Lizandra Cosme of the Humboldt Park neighborhood in Chicago was arrested Sunday and charged with five counts of aggravated battery of a child under 13 years of age causing great bodily harm, according to the Chicago Times.

The 32-year-old woman “caused injury” to three girls and two boys, all of whom were 2 years old at the Children’s Learning Place in West Fullerton on Dec. 1. It was not clear how badly the children were hurt.

Local radio station WLS cited prosecutors saying Cosme brought the glue gun to the daycare Dec.1 as a part of a Christmas project. A parent of one of the children noticed burn marks on his 2-year-old's hands as he was an ER physician and demanded to see surveillance video of the classroom.

The video showed Cosme using the glue gun directly on the hands and arms of five two-year-old children, WLS reported. An assistant was also present in the room but she allegedly stood by idly and was even laughing as Cosme used the glue gun onto the toddlers’ hands, reports said. Cosme had 16 children under her care.

"Each of the child victims winced and some whined at the hot glue gun application," a prosecutor said, and added Cosme tried to apply neosporin to one of them after she saw circular burn marks starting to appear.
Cosme asked the father of one of the burned children whether the child was injured at home, prosecutors said, and stated it appeared to be an effort on her part to cover it up later in the day.

Her actions were discovered after the surveillance footage was reviewed and she was then taken into custody about 1:30 p.m. EST Sunday at her home in the 1500 block of North Springfield Avenue.

Cosme's defense attorney said in court his client "screwed up" but did not act out of malice and cited her 12 years working with young children. A Cook County judge ordered her held without bail Monday. She is scheduled to return to court Dec. 26.

Children's learning place spokeswoman Lissa Druss Christman said in an emailed statement to WBBM: “The well being of our students is paramount. Upon learning of the alleged incident, we notified DCFS immediately and terminated two of our employees. We are currently working with investigators.”

She also added two staffers were fired after the incident.

A second woman, Susana D. Gonzalez, 27, from Melrose Park, was charged with five counts of misdemeanor for causing the circumstances of child endangerment, police said, according to WLS.

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services spokeswoman Alissandra Calderón also said they were investigating allegations of abuse by a day care worker.

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