CHICORA — Charges of failing to report suspected child abuse against a day care worker were held for court Tuesday, Nov. 26, at a preliminary hearing.

District Judge Lewis Stoughton held four felony counts of failing to report suspected child abuse filed against Megan E. Anthony, 26, of Butler for trial in Common Pleas Court. Charges were filed by state police.

Police allege that Anthony witnessed, but failed to report, co-worker Taylor E. Titley, 30, of Lyndora, abuse four children last year at Sheryl Buffington’s Daycare and Preschool Palace in Center Township.

The 20 felony and misdemeanor charges filed against Titley were held for court in January.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Trooper Dillon Burkarth testified he interviewed seven day care employees, including Anthony, after he received a ChildLine report on June 15, 2023, about a 6-month-old boy who suffered a fracture to his right arm on June 13 at the center.

All seven employees are mandated to report child abuse, but none did, Burkarth said. Six of those employees are cooperating with the investigation, but Anthony declined to cooperate, he said.

In her recorded interview, Anthony said she witnessed concerning behavior from Titley toward children while she worked with Titley in the infant room for three or four months, Burkarth said.

Anthony and the other employees who were interviewed identified four infant victims. The other victims are boys ages 2 years, 11 months and 10 months, according to an affidavit.

Anthony didn’t see how the 6-month-old was injured, but she witnessed Titley forcibly throw four children including the 6-month-old to the floor during the time she worked with Titley, Burkarth said.

Anthony told Burkarth she saw Titley aggressively grab children by one of their arms and pull them on the floor to their mats.

Burkarth said Anthony reported Titley treated children that way routinely and almost daily, and that Titley would use a flashlight to look into the pupils of the children to check for head injuries after her contact with them.

Burkarth said there are no documented injuries to the three other children.

He also said Anthony told him she wouldn’t take her children to the center because of Titley.

The center does not have surveillance cameras, he added.

Stoughton said he was “horrified” to hear that seven people witnessed child abuse, but didn’t report it.