EDITOR’S NOTE: Due to incorrect information from Alberta Justice, this article, published on March 1, 2017, originally stated the November 2016 charges against Melissa Suley had been withdrawn. The story was updated when Alberta Justice later clarified to say that although the original charges were withdrawn, more charges had been laid against Suley. Now that Alberta Justice has provided Global News with the nature and number of charges Suley now faces, the story has been updated again.
An Edmonton dayhome operator accused of child abandonment now faces more charges in the case.
On Wednesday, Alberta Justice confirmed Melissa Suley now faces 10 charges: five counts of child abandonment and five counts of causing a child to be in need of intervention, a charge under the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Family Act.
READ MORE: Edmonton dayhome operator charged with child abandonment fired after 2012 ‘critical incident’
Watch below: On Dec. 14, 2016, Quinn Ohler filed this report after criminal allegations were made against an Edmonton dayhome operator.
On Nov. 30, 2016, Suley was charged with five counts of child abandonment and while police never released details about what led to the charges, a group of parents told Global News their kids were left alone in a locked basement at her private, unlicensed dayhome.
“I couldn’t believe that anyone in their right mind could do that to a child, let alone five,” Gordon Patzalek, whose two children were in Suley’s care, said at the time.
READ MORE: Edmonton dayhome operator charged with child abandonment
Suley’s next court appearance is scheduled for March 13.
-with files from Quinn Ohler and Caley Ramsay.