--- description: Three employees at Kiddie Junction, a Des Plaines, Illinois day care, were arrested after allegedly giving kids melatonin-laced gummies. title: Daycare Workers Arrested for Allegedly Giving Kids Melatonin-Laced Gummies image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb73fe2bfa9a23a8/6988f6b4ab6d776f6a6b12fd/cop-car.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Crime](/tag/crime/) ## Crime Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Daycare Workers Arrested for Allegedly Giving Kids Melatonin-Laced Gummies by [Jennifer Calfas](/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 5, 2018 9:46 PM CUT  USA, police car with lights on USA, police car with lights onWestend61—Getty Images/Westend61 by [Jennifer Calfas](/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 5, 2018 9:46 PM CUT Three employees at an Illinois daycare center were arrested were arrested after they allegedly gave young children melatonin gummies before their nap time without their parents’ permission, according to police. The three employees at the Des Plaines, Illinois-based Kiddie Junction day care were charged with two counts of endangering the life or health of a child and two counts of battery each, according [to the Chicago _Tribune_](http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/park-ridge/news/ct-met-des-plaines-day-care-melatonin-20180305-story.html "undefined"). > [](https://twitter.com/ABC7Chicago/status/970699566080315393) Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone that can also be taken as a sleep aid. Parents commonly use melatonin to help their children sleep and it is generally considered safe, but it has not been well studied for routine use, according to a 2016 paper from the [National Institutes of Health](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4830653/ "undefined"). Des Plaines Police Commander Christopher Mierzwa told _Tribune_ the parents of the children did not give permission for them to take melatonin. “You can’t distribute that without the parents being told,” he told the _Tribune_. The daycare workers, he added, “didn’t know if the child was allergic to melatonin.” Police said the department was tipped off by management of the day care center March 2, and that children were given the melatonin-laced gummy bears “in an effort to calm them down before napping,” according [to the Chicago _Sun-Times_](https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/des-plaines-day-care-teachers-charged-with-drugging-kids-with-sleep-aid/ "undefined"). Police said none of the kids got sick as a result of the sleep aid. The daycare center offers programs for children ages six weeks to six years old, and says “a safe and healthy environment is a top priority” at the center, according to its [website](https://kiddiejunction.net/ "undefined"). A representative from Kiddie Junction said they day care had no comment. The Des Plaines Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TIME. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5186600/daycare-kiddie-junction-des-plaines-illinois/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5186600/daycare-kiddie-junction-des-plaines-illinois/"},"headline":"Daycare Workers Arrested for Allegedly Giving Kids Melatonin-Laced Gummies","datePublished":"2018-03-05T21:46:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:32:12.704Z","description":"Each worker was charged with two counts of endangering the life or health of a child and two counts of battery","url":"https://time.com/5186600/daycare-kiddie-junction-des-plaines-illinois/","keywords":["Crime","Illinois","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb73fe2bfa9a23a8/6988f6b4ab6d776f6a6b12fd/cop-car.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Calfas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb73fe2bfa9a23a8/6988f6b4ab6d776f6a6b12fd/cop-car.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"USA, police car with lights on","caption":"USA, police car with lights on","creditText":"Westend61—Getty Images/Westend61","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/crime/","name":"Crime"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5186600/daycare-kiddie-junction-des-plaines-illinois/","name":"Daycare Workers Arrested for Allegedly Giving Kids Melatonin-Laced Gummies"}}]}] ```