Disturbing video shows taxpayer-funded babysitter brutally beating NYC tots with a belt — and horrified family demands answers
La'keysha Jackson, 24, began working for Bronx mother Geraldine Jaramillo a year ago via a contractor paid for by city's Administration for Children's Services that provides struggling families with babysitters to help with caretaking.
9 A shocked family says that babysitter La'keysha Jackson – paid for by a city program – was discovered regularly beating three kids under 6-year-old, according to video footage.
Courtesy Daniel Szalkiewicz
The single mom said she discovered the violent treatment last month when the kids' grandma checked a home surveillance camera in the bedroom — and was horrified to learn that the babysitter was secretly beating the children, boys ages 2, 4 and 6.
But despite the family reporting the horrifying behavior to ACS and the NYPD — and Jackson getting charged with a pair of felonies — she has yet to be arrested, the family said.
The video shows her beating two of the crying children nearly 60 times, according to a notice of claim filed by Jaramillo's attorney Monday indicating her intent to sue.
In the footage from May 6, the brutal babysitter can be seen whipping the underwear-clad children's behinds and restraining their tiny arms as they try in vain to deflect the blows.
'Guess what's about to happen,' she can be heard saying, apparently upset that the two older kids, aged 4 and 6, did not clean up their room.
'Belt?' one of the young boys answers as Jackson, wearing a T-shirt with the words 'Heaven Sent,' pulls a thick brown belt out of a cross-body bag.
'You're right — I warned y'all,' she replies cheerily, chillingly adding: 'Drop 'em.'
9 La'keysha Jackson was considered a member of the family for the year she worked with them through a taxpayer-funded program.
Facebook / Lakeysha Jackson
9 But secretly, Jackson was donning grotesque costumes and beating the children while the single mom was at work.
Courtesy Daniel Szalkiewicz
The babysitter also bizarrely wore a grotesque Halloween mask and a Santa Claus outfit — which Jaramillo discovered in her home — to apparently frighten the children, footage shows.
Jackson was employed by home aid provider Selfhelp, contracted by the troubled ACS, through its homemaking program that provides struggling city families with a babysitter to help with caretaking, according to Jaramillo and documentation shared with The Post.
But what was supposed to be miraculous help turned into a living nightmare for the mom, who first got connected with the homemaking service while fleeing a domestic violence situation, she said.
Until her own mom found the video, Jaramillo said she and her parents considered Jackson a member of the family, celebrating holidays together and letting her sleep in a spare bedroom occasionally to avoid the long trek back to Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn from the Bronx.
9 Jaramillo told The Post that Jackson, pictured, was the second sitter sent to the family after the first from the same ACS-contracted agency was discovered drinking and smoking at a playground while watching the kids.
Facebook / Lakeysha Jackson
9 A still from a graphic video showing Jackson taking out a belt before beating the two young children a total of 58 times.
Courtesy Daniel Szalkiewicz
But the family then came to learn 'she was beating the kids every other day,' said the kids' grandpa Rudy Enamorado, who drove two hours from his Pennsylvania home once he saw the footage.
'Hitting the kids with the [clothes] hangers, hitting them with belts, throwing the baby,' Jaramillo recounted, claiming that the babysitter also doled out emotional and verbal abuse to the children.
The kids are now scared to take off their clothes, leave their bedroom — or even use the bathroom.
9 The last text message sent by Jackson to the single mom after the May 6 incident.
Courtesy Daniel Szalkiewicz
'They say the bathroom is scary,' Jaramillo told The Post, 'we don't understand why.'
The boys are also now intensely aggressive with each other, fighting, hitting and even sitting on the baby to the point of suffocation, the mom said.
'They're so traumatized,' Jaramillo said. 'I don't know where they're learning these things, I don't know if they're repeating stuff that was happening to them.'
9 The children cried and screamed as they were wailed upon by their city-funded caretaker.
Courtesy Daniel Szalkiewicz
Jackson was the second sitter sent to the family after the first from the same ACS-contracted agency was discovered drinking and smoking at a playground while watching the kids, Jaramillo claimed.
'The worst thing we did was let our guard down,' said grandfather Enamorado.
Jackson did not reply to requests for comment, but in her last text message to Jaramillo, shared with The Post, she professed her 'love' for the boys.
'It's a learning experience for us all,' the message said. 'I am their number one supporter when it comes to their safety and well being.'
It's unclear how much Jackson was paid, but Selfhelp currently has a $1.23 million contract with ACS for homemaking services, records show.
Jaramillo alleged that after the May 6 incident, ACS opened an investigation into her — instead of Jackson — claiming she lacked documentation from the kids' hospital visit that day.
An ACS spokesperson did not address that claim, but said that Jackson no longer works for Selfhelp and that ACS was working with the NYPD in its investigation.
'We are taking these despicable actions very seriously, and we have commenced a review of the contracted provider's procedures,' the rep said.
A Selfhelp spokesperson confirmed that Jackson had been terminated and that the company is fully cooperating with the NYPD, claiming that it performs drug testing and background checks on all their workers.
9 Jackson did not reply to requests for comment, but in the last text message to Jaramillo, she professes her 'love' for the boys.
Courtesy Daniel Szalkiewicz
Police sources said cops attempted to arrest Jackson Monday morning on assault and child endangerment charges, but were unable to.
9 Jackson's brother told a Post reporter outside of their Bed-Stuy home that what the video depicted was normal in Black families.
Facebook / Lakeysha Jackson
Jackson's brother told a Post reporter outside of their Bed-Stuy home that what the video depicted was normal in Black families.
'Abuse my ass,' he said Monday, 'That happens in black families all the time.'
Jaramillo, whose aunt is now helping with childcare, said she wants justice for her kids — and to figure out what exactly happened in her home.
'I really want to get to the bottom of this.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
9 hours ago
- New York Post
90 prosecutors quit Nassau County DA's Office over claims of incumbent's ‘dictator' leadership: ‘No longer about justice'
About 90 prosecutors have quit the Nassau County District Attorney's Office since Anne Donnelly took it over in 2022, says her political challenger — who left the job herself, citing a 'dictator'-like atmosphere. Nicole Aloise, a Democrat running against the GOP incumbent Donnelly for DA, called out her opponent Friday outside the county courthouse in Mineola, LI — accusing Donnelly of fostering a toxic work culture focused more on headlines than justice. 'I left the Nassau DAs office after truly believing I would be there for life,' said Aloise, who quit there in 2023. 'I loved serving the community, ensuring that victims were heard and perpetrators were brought to justice. 6 Nicole Aloise, a Democrat running against the GOP incumbent Anne Donnelly for DA, accused Donnelly of fostering a toxic work culture. Nicole Aloise/Instagram 'Once Anne Donnelly took office — the job changed — it was no longer about justice, it was about her own agenda.' Donnelly's camp fired back by calling her political foe and the other former assistant district attorneys 'ethically challenged, soft-on-crime prosecutors like Nicole Aloise.' Aloise said she was one of the roughly 90 prosecutors in the office pushed to quit their jobs under Donnelly, claiming one of the reasons she left is because she was denied the resources she requested to try to expand a murder prosecution into a larger conspiracy case. 6 'Once Anne Donnelly took office — the job changed — it was no longer about justice, it was about her own agenda,' Aloise said. Nicole Aloise/Instagram 6 Aloise said she was one of the roughly 90 prosecutors in the office pushed to quit their jobs under Donnelly. Dennis A. Clark Some of the other former prosecutors said the alleged internal dismal culture shift under Donnelly also drove them out. They wrote to Aloise sharing similar accounts, including breakdowns in collaboration, shrinking support for long-term investigations and what they saw as a growing focus on politics over prosecution. 'You can either treat us like s–t or pay us like s–t, you can't do both — Donnelly did,' a former prosecutor told The Post under the promise of anonymity. 6 'You can either treat us like s–t or pay us like s–t, you can't do both — Donnelly did,' a former prosecutor told The Post under the promise of anonymity. Dennis A. Clark Aloise also cited a 44% spike in basic crimes during Donnelly's first two years in office — the highest level since 2013 — and attacked the DA for having the office's lowest felony conviction rate since 2014. County officials have touted a 25% drop in major crimes at the start of 2025, but Aloise argued that short-term improvements don't erase what she called a breakdown in leadership and the long-term damage to the justice system. But some local authorities blame the previous jump in crime and drop in convictions on former President Joe Biden's border policies and New York's 'soft-on-crime' laws, even going as far as previously calling Dem Gov. Kathy Hochul and her political party 'pro-criminal.' 6 Donnelly's camp called Aloise and the other former assistant district attorneys 'ethically challenged, soft-on-crime prosecutors.' Dennis A. Clark Donnelly's office contended that the prosecutors who quit their assistant district attorney posts also fit that description — and it said good riddance, framing their departures as a purge. 'The only exodus of attorneys, thankfully, have been by ethically challenged, soft-on-crime prosecutors like Nicole Aloise,' DA spokesman Mike Deery told The Post. 'Under District Attorney Anne Donnelly's watch, Nassau has been recognized as the safest community in the USA,' he said. 'The only exodus of attorneys, thankfully, has been by ethically challenged, soft-on-crime prosecutors like Nicole Aloise.' 6 According to DA spokesman Mike Deery, Donnelly is focused on rebuilding the office with prosecutors who support her tough-on-crime approach. Dennis A. Clark Deery said his boss has been focused on rebuilding the office with prosecutors who support her tough-on-crime approach and restoring public trust. He said Aloise has been previously accused of 'unethical conduct, corruption and abuse of power' after a group of law professors filed a formal ethics complaint in 2021 accusing her of prosecutorial misconduct during her time as an ADA in Queens over her father, Justice Michael Aloise. The complaint was eventually dismissed, according to a state letter obtained by The Post. Aloise's camp told The Post in a statement, 'If Anne Donnelly was a competent District Attorney and actually believed she had that many unethical employees, she'd have fired them rather than watch them flee her office en masse. 'Facts matter,' the statement said, pointing out that the stats used to determine Nassau County as the safest in the country are from 2014 and 2016 — before Donnelly took office.
New York Post
a day ago
- New York Post
Debit cards given to NYC's summer youth job program tied to $17 M ATM fraud scam: sources
NYC-issued debit cards meant to pay participants working in a summer youth program were instead used by scammers who nabbed $17 million over a three-day period earlier this month, sources told The Post. The scam — the subject of an ongoing fraud probe — led to ATMs across the Big Apple being banged for big bucks from July 11 to July 13, with the cash ending up in the wrong hands rather than kids and young adults in the Summer Youth Employment Program, officials said. The payment cards are supposed to give access to weekly earnings, typically several hundred bucks at most. However, an error allowed the cards to access massive payments of up $40,000 per ATM. Advertisement 3 NYC-issued debit card that are supposed to be used to pay participants working in a summer youth program were instead used to shell out $17 million to scammers over a three-day period earlier this month, sources said. San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images Teenagers and adults boasted how big money could be made off the cards in videos posted on TikTok and Instagram. 'We're making bread, we're printing money right now,' said one man in a video posted on TikTok. 'If you work S.Y.E.P., hit me up.' Advertisement However, others warned people not to fall for scam. 3 The scam led to ATMS across the Big Apple being banged for big bucks from July 11-13 and ending up in the wrong hands rather than youngsters in city's Summer Youth Employment Program. ABC7 City officials insisted no tax dollars have been lost, making it unclear who absorbed the costs of the illegal withdrawals. The case – first reported by the New York Times — is being investigated by both the NYPD and Department of Youth and Community Development. Advertisement 'We are deeply disturbed by scammers preying on our participants just as they started their work assignments to support themselves and their families,' DYCD spokesman Mark Zustovich. He also insisted the agency 'quickly launched an investigation with the vendors who oversee the SYEP pay card system, to make sure our participants' earnings are as secure as possible' and have 'worked diligently to educate' participants about 'scams and fraud activities.' Investigators are trying to determine the origin of the scam, who was involved and how many cards were involved but lacked answers as of Saturday. 3 'Sometimes it was five to 10 transactions. A few times we saw 100 to 200 transactions consecutively,' said Youserf Mubairrez, CEO of ATM World Corp. ABC7 Advertisement ATM World Corp. told ABC-7 News its records show the same card was used multiple times on its ATM machines to score $43,000. There was $200 limit per transaction but no limit on how many one could make and how much cash one could take out. 'Sometimes it was five to 10 transactions. A few times we saw 100 to 200 transactions consecutively,' said Youserf Mubairrez, CEO of ATM World Corp. The jobs program is the largest of its kind in the United States, with100,000 participants this year. Young people ages 16 to 24 – many from poor and minority families — are paid $16.50 minimum wage for up to 25 hours a week in what are typically their first formal jobs. Participants with bank accounts get paid via direct deposit, but since 2003 those without received payment cards that can be used at ATMs to get their weekly earnings. About 30,000 were set up to be paid by card this year, The Times reported.
New York Post
a day ago
- New York Post
Families try to clawback money from NYPD officers' killers
The outraged loved ones of two NYPD officers gunned down in cold blood are fighting to keep the killers from collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal payouts. The families of slain Police Officer Russel Timoshenko, who was killed in 2007, and Detective Brian Simonsen, who was murdered in 2019, are filing lawsuits under the state's 'Son of Sam Law,' which prohibits criminals from profiting off their crimes, they told The Post. Lee Woods was convicted of murder for fatally shooting Timoshenko in the face and head during a traffic stop in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn. The officer was just 23 — one of the youngest cops ever killed in the line of duty. 8 Hearthbroken mom Tatyana Timoshenko still goes to a Staten Island cemetery to be with her son on holidays. Leonardo Munoz Woods is set to get $250,000 after suing individual correction officers and the state in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of New York over his alleged mistreatment at maximum security Auburn Correctional Facility while serving a life sentence for Timoshenko's death. Learning of the settlement enraged the dead police officer's mom, who left a job in private industry to work in Information Technology at the NYPD to feel closer to her dead son. 'I don't want him to be rewarded even one penny for killing my son and being in prison for the crime that he committed,' Tatyana Timoshenko, who moved to the United States with her husband and son from the Russian republic of Balarus when he was 9, told The Post. 'I had only one child. I used to live for him and he was stolen from me.' 8 Timoshenko is trying to stop Lee Woods from getting $250,000 he was awarded after suing an upstate prison for keeping him in solitary confinement, court records show. Spencer A. Burnett 8 Russel Timoshenko was killed when he and his partner tried to pull over a BMW SUV in Brooklyn. Jeff Day Timoshenko, 59, and her husband Leonid, are suing Woods in Richmond County Surpreme Court to stop the payment. Russel Timoshenko survived for five days in the hospital after he was shot — and his mother remembers how she screamed when he died. The mom, who still wears a necklace that holds a tiny silver badge with her son's name on it, spent months with her school bus driver husband sitting in a chair by their son's grave at the Moravian Cemetery in Staten Island. 8 Widow Leanne Simonsen lost her husband in 2007 when he was killed while trying to stop a phone story robbery in Queens. J.C. Rice Today, that's where they can be found on holidays, including Mother's Day and Father's Day. 'This is my life,' she said, as tears fell from her eyes. 'On the holidays, we visit his grave because he can't come visit us.' Simonsen was killed in a hail of bullets fired by other cops after a robber drew a fake pistol during a T-Mobile store robbery in South Richmond Hill, Queens, in February 2019. 8 Jagger Freeman. who was convicted in the killing and sentenced to 30 years to life in prison, is set to get $243,000. His imprisoned killers, Jagger Freeman and Christopher Ransom, are set to receive $243,900 and $123,600, respectively. Ransom, who was wielding the prop and wearing a ski mask when he forced employees to open a safe in the back of the store, pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and robbery in 2021. He was sentenced to 33 years in prison. Jagger Freeman, who orchestrated the robbery, was found guilty in 2022 of murder in the second degree, robbery, assault and grand larceny. He was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison. 8 Simonsen's wife Leanne is hugged by then-Police Commissioner James O'Neill during the funeral service of her husband at Saint Rosalie Roman Catholic Church in Long Island. J. Conrad Williams Jr. They were among 4,000 pretrial detainees who sued the city as part of a class-action suit, claiming that they were placed in solitary confinement in cells at Rikers Island for up to 23 hours a day. Simonson's widow, Leanne, said she was 'appalled' to learn of the planned payments. 'I couldn't believe that they were getting rewarded for being criminals. It's like the state is taking sides with the criminals and us victims are just hung out to dry,' she said. 8 Detective Simonsen was killed when one of the robbers at a T-Mobile store pulled a fake gun, causing police officers outside to fire through the glass and strike their brother-in-blue. William Miller Lawyer James Moschella, who represents the Detectives Endowment Association, filed suit for both police officer families. 'These two cases are the perfect examples of the just and appropriate use of the NYC Executive Law, the so-called Son of Sam law,' said Moschella, of Karasyk Moschella in Manhattan. 'It will ensure that these defendants, all of whom are responsible for the murder of two brave NYC police detectives will not profit from their incarceration.' Moschella filed a lawsuit in Suffolk County Supreme Court, where Simonsen's widow lives, to stop her husband's killers from getting the money. He filed the suit for the Timoshenko family in Richmond County Supreme Court. 8 Christopher Ransom, the robber who pulled out the imitation gun, sparking the gunfire that left the officer dead, is set to receive $123,600. Detectives Endowment President Scott Munro said the payments could erode public safety. 'Pamper cop killers, destroy public safety,' he said. 'It's that simple.' Lawyers for the inmates in their civil cases didn't return calls seeking comment.
