PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — A Pinellas county preschool teacher with a long history in child care was charged with child abuse last week.
Deputies arrested Rebecca Bird on July 18 after they say she was caught on video forcefully grabbing and knocking a two-year-old to the ground. It was only her fourth day on the job.
10 Tampa Bay uncovered that back in 2013, an infant died while under Bird's care.
The news of Bird's recent arrest was personally gut-wrenching for Bianca Raponi.
In 2013, Raponi's four-month-old daughter Tamara died while she was at daycare. According to the autopsy, the cause of death was undetermined.
In an exclusive interview, Raponi told 10 Tampa Bay reporter Liz Crawford, "My daughter died because someone was not doing their job."
It was only Tamara's third day at a home daycare run by Rebecca Bird. Bianca remembers getting a call from someone with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office telling her to get to the hospital.
"I went to the hospital and I saw my baby lifeless take her last breath, " Raponi said.
According to sheriff's office reports, the infant was sleeping in a rear bedroom and when Rebecca went to check on her, "she noticed she was not breathing and had a grayish color to her skin. She still felt warm but was floppy."
Raponi said her daughter should have never been left alone.
"She needed to be in a room present with the person who was supposed to care for her. That's what my baby needed and she'd still be here today. I believe that 100 percent," she said.
The sheriff's office reports don't indicate how long the baby was alone in the rear room. Bird did not have surveillance cameras in the house. Florida law doesn't require them at daycare facilities.
"The bottom line is she was never supposed to be in that back room," said Raponi who explained her baby choked to death. The autopsy report said "white, milky fluid was in the airways."
Bird was never charged with anything in connection with Tamara's death. Nearly nine years later, Bianca Raponi believes her daughter's story needs to be told.
"She didn't deserve to die at four months old."
In July, deputies with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office arrested Bird after she was charged with allegedly harming a two-year-old while on the job.
10 Tampa Bay reached out to Bird for comment. She stuck her head outside her door and said the charges filed against her are not true and she hired an attorney. She wouldn't answer any other questions before closing the door.
According to the sheriff’s office incident reports, Bird has been working in child care for more than three decades.
10 Tampa Bay requested her full employment history from the state. The Department of Children and Families is working on our request.