What is the world coming to? Two New Jersey women are being accused and could possibly face charges for holding an alleged "fight club" between the boys and girls of Lightbridge Academy in Cranford, New Jersey. According to Union County Prosecutor Grace Park, the day care workers reportedly encouraged the young children, some as young as 4 years old, to fight each other. The fights were later uploaded to Snapchat.
Former Lightbridge Academy employees Erica Kenny, 22, of Cranford and Chanese White, 28, of Roselle instigated preschoolers and kindergartners to fight each other on the playground of the school last month, according to CBS2's Christine Sloan. Nearly a dozen children were seen attacking each other in the school yard, throwing each other down and hitting each other. The women apparently set up the reckless fights and put the children's lives at risk for their own amusement.
Although there weren't any serious injuries reported, the case is still under investigation. The incident apparently dates back to Aug. 13, after Kenny allegedly recorded videos of the disturbing fights and sent them to people through Snapchat. Investigators are looking to determine whether the alleged "fight club" took place more than once over a period of time or if it was a singular occurrence. Despite Snapchat videos permanently deleting themselves after a certain amount of seconds, invesitgators were able to obtain the video evidence after someone recorded it.
Sloan asked Lightbridge Academy's vice president Jaclyn Falzarano how these fights could have taken place without anyone noticing, and she responded like this: "Again, what we really would like to focus on at this point is that all of the children are safe. That is our number one priority. We've actually been in constant communication with our parents to let them know that we are here to fully support the care and nurturing education of their children."
Kenny and White have both been fired from the New Jersey academy. Both women are being accused of fourth-degree child abuse, while Kenny could face an additional third-degree charge of endangering the welfare of a child. If convicted, Kenny could face up to five years in prison while White could face up to 18 months. They're expected to appear in cour on Friday, Sept. 4.
