A Fayetteville woman is charged with three counts of providing child care without a license.
Melissa Ann Ortiz-Fikes, 51, was arrested nearly a month after a toddler, Gianna James, drowned at a home Fayetteville police said was operating as an "unofficial daycare."
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Ortiz-Fikes was arrested on Thursday and appeared in court on Friday afternoon. During court proceedings, a prosecutor read from paperwork that said there were 26 children at Ortiz-Fikes' home when the child died. The home was still operating as a daycare after James died.
"GiGi was always a happy baby," said mother Ginger Calder. "She loved getting picked up. That girl loved to eat."
Calder's memories turn to grief after experiencing every parent's worst nightmare.
"I was at work acting like it was a regular day, everything was fine," Calder said. "My husband came to my job. He told me that my daughter died, and I broke down in tears."
"One of the workers was outside ... and she took her eyesight from GiGi for two minutes and that's how she got in the pool," Calder said. "It doesn't make sense."
When WRAL News went to the home, a woman who said she lived at the house refused to answer our questions.
Calder is still upset, not only about her child's death, but also because the daycare kept operating after the death. She's demanding answers.
"I feel like she's a monster," Calder said of Ortiz-Fikes. "You're a monster because you still ran your daycare like it was normal. You didn't inform the parents that a 1-year-old died at your house."
Ortiz-Fikes is being held under a $50,000 secured bond at the Cumberland County Detention Center.
Her next court date is Oct. 22.