Published: October 17, 2025 at 11:56 AM
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Rosa Alcala (MDCR)
HIALEAH, Fla. — The director of a Hialeah daycare is facing a child abuse charge after police said she was caught on camera hitting a 3-year-old boy so hard during a diaper change that she left a mark.
Police said the incident happened last Friday. Rosa Alcala, 52, was taken into custody on Thursday at the Hialeah Police Department.
Investigators said the boy’s mother went to HPD headquarters on Saturday to report the incident. According to an arrest report, the boy’s grandmother, after picking him up from the daycare, “noticed a handprint marking on (his) left thigh area” and told his mother.
The name and location of the daycare were redacted from the report released by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.
Police said the boy’s mother spoke to the owner of the daycare, who promised to review CCTV footage to determine what happened. The report states that the owner called the boy’s mother the next day to tell her that the footage showed Alcala hitting the boy during the diaper change.
Authorities said photos taken of the boy’s thigh on Saturday still showed “visible redness on the left thigh consistent with being struck by an adult hand,” including an “outline of two fingers still show (sic) printed on the skin.”
Police said when Alcala showed up for an interview on Thursday morning, she “confess(ed).”
That alleged confession was also redacted from the report.
Alcala, identified in the arrest report as a Venezuelan national, was given a $5,000 bond after appearing in Miami-Dade bond court on Friday morning.
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Chris Gothner