Warning: Details in this story are disturbing.
NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A married couple was indicted this week for allegedly abusing multiple infants and toddlers at a day care they ran out of their Queens home, including a child who had a dirty diaper shoved in his mouth, prosecutors said Thursday.
“The allegations in this case are a working parent’s worst nightmare,” Queens D.A. Melinda Katz said in a statement, noting she has two boys herself and knows the trust parents put in day cares.
Katz said her office and the NYPD immediately shut down the day care on 188th Street in Jamaica Estates after receiving an anonymous tip of abuse there in December 2023.
Ilya Davydov, 48, and Ksenia Davydov, 41, were arraigned Tuesday on multiple counts each of attempted assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
Ksenia Davydov had a New York state license to operate KSE Service Inc. out of the home.
After the day care was shuttered by the state Office of Children and Family Services, police searched the premises and recovered a “large cache” of video surveillance, hundreds of hours of which was reviewed by investigators from the NYPD and Queens D.A.’s office.
Various incidents of abuse and endangering were captured on video, prosecutors said.
Among the disturbing allegations in the indictment are that Ksenia Davydov repeatedly abused an 11-month-old boy by, among other things, forcing an apparently soiled diaper into his mouth, holding a pillow over his face, and carrying him—sometimes upside down—by his limbs and dropping him onto furniture. Ilya Davydov allegedly hit the same boy on the head.
The indictment also alleges various acts of abuse against eight other kids between the ages of 14 months and 3 years old, including acts of kicking, shoving, yanking and suspending children in the air by their arms or neck.
In one instance, Ksenia Davydov allegedly suspended a 17-month-old boy in the air upside down by holding his shirt and leg and then dropped him onto a table, causing the child’s cochlear implants to detach from his head. Ilya Davydov allegedly struck the same child in the head and suspended him in the air by his jacket.
Ksenia Davydov also allegedly threw objects at a 14-month-old boy, while Ilya Davydov allegedly shoved that child, suspended him in the air by grabbing his arm and shirt, and threw him into a crib.
The couple is scheduled to return to court on Feb. 21.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.