After being caught force feeding a child on nanny cam footage, Lauren Rowe of New Bern, North Carolina has been charged with misdemeanor child abuse.
Laura Oglesby, the mother of the child whom Rowe was nannying for, subsequently published the footage, believed to be taken on October 26, to her TikTok account, @theartjunkie.
The disturbing, nearly three minute video has since received over 12.3 million views.
WARNING: graphic content
@theartjunkie Visit TikTok to discover videos!
Oglesby warned viewers of the video's sensitive content, as well as her reasons for publishing it in the caption.
"*TRIGGER WARNING* "
"Our nanny (LAUREN ROWE) caught on our security camera abusing our son. (New Bern,NC) ."
"***POSTED FOR AWARENESS**."
At the beginning of the video, Rowe could be seen forcibly holding the child's arms behind their back as she tried to force feed them their food.
Ignoring the child's screams, after she was finally able to get the food in the child's mouth, she could then be seen holding her hand over their mouth.
The child continued to scream as Rowe covered their mouth, and Rowe could be heard warning the child "You can eat it or not."
The child then attempted to climb out of their high chair, resulting in Rowe forcibly pushing the child back into a seated position, and holding them down.
After getting the child seated again, Rowe could be heard angrily telling the child "you can sit there and eat your food".
The child then noticed a book on the floor, and pointed to it.
Rowe told the child that if they wanted to read the book they had to eat their food, eventually taunting the child by waving the book in their face then taking it away multiple times, before eventually throwing the book to the ground.
Rowe then made a questionable claim that this was a learning experience for the anguished toddler.
"We are learning today."
"We are learning, you need to eat your food and then you can be all done."
In what is perhaps the video's most disturbing moment, a second infant child could be seen attempting to climb the baby gate behind Rowe, with Rowe only noticing them when they let out a cry.
Rowe seemed to handle the situation by throwing toys back over the gate, almost as if she was trying to make the child go fetch like a dog.
The video ended with the child in the high chair still inconsolable, with Rowe standing firm in her stance.
"We can sit there all night until you eat it."
"We can sit there all night."
Viewers of the video reacted in horror, terrified for the child's safety.
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As reported by The Sun Journal, Laura Oglesby and her husband Max were roughly an hour away from their home when they caught Rowe in the act, immediately sending Max's Mother to care for the children and relieve Rowe.
Rowe was arrested and charged the next day.
Mr. Oglesby explained to The Sun Journalwhy he and his wife wanted to share the nanny cam footage with the public.
"We put it out there because if people didn't know, they would still hire her."
"You don't expect it to happen to yours."
"She was recommended to my wife on a Facebook group for New Bern moms."
"She's got a check on freaking care.com."
"I feel like we took the right steps."
Mr. Oglesby also told The Sun Journal Rowe was well aware of the nanny cams which were placed all around the house.
Mr. And Mrs.Oglesby came in for a fair amount of criticism themselves for placing their children in the care of such an unfit nanny.
This resulted in Mrs. Oglesby posting a series of 10 follow up videos to her TikTok account.
@theartjunkie Here goes nothing… #justicefordeclan
Over the course of the ten videos, Mrs Oglesby revealed that the earlier video was a small clip of the events that transpired that night, which also included Rowe forcibly shoving the toddler into his room with his blanket.
She also made it explicitly clear that she and her husband were extremely thorough in vetting Rowe, who in addition to being verified by care.com, was also recommended by other parents, as well as the local pre-school.
Viewers of the follow up videos shared their support for the Oglesby's, sending well wishes for them and their children.
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According to The Sun Journal, the New Bern Police Department is currently examining over three weeks of footage from the Oglesby's nanny cams.
Rowe was reportedly released on her $2,500 bond less than 30 minutes after her arrest, with her court date currently scheduled for November 8.
This will be one of three court dates for Rowe, who also has a court date scheduled on November 19 for speeding, a revoked registration tag and reckless driving, as well as one on December 2 for driving a vehicle with no registration.
