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Day care in Minneapolis vandalized, and children's information stolen, after viral video purporting fraud

By
Frankie McLister
Frankie McLister
Reporter
Frankie McLister, originally from Middletown, Maryland, holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.
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Frankie McLister

/ CBS Minnesota

A Minneapolis day care says that vandals damaged the facility early this week and took information about employees and children from their records, after a YouTube video purporting to expose fraud among day cares in the Twin Cities metro area went viral.

Officials with the Nokomis Daycare Center in Minneapolis claim that vandals broke in early Tuesday morning, between 3 and 6 a.m. Nokomis was not among the day cares featured in the viral video, posted by rightwing influencer Nick Shirley. 

Vandals got into the day care through cinder blocks, according to the day care. It appears the vandals first tried to saw into the door of a Family Dollar store next door in the shopping center, but that didn't work, officials said.

The manager claims those who broke in went straight to the office, stealing information about the many children who were taken care of there, as well as employees' information. Minneapolis police said, "No loss was (initially) reported to officers, but late this morning the original reporting party reached out to MPD with additional information about the case, including the loss."

WCCO checked with the Minnesota Department of Human Services, which does not show any record of the facility having committed any fraud. The records, which are in the public record, show other minor violations.

"We are not a part of any harmful things that are being said," day care manager Nasrulah Mohamed said. "Our licensing has been good, even the inspections. I want to say no intimidation is going to stop us."

The video, posted to Shirley's YouTube account, showed the influencer visiting various day cares and claiming them to be empty. According to X, the video has been seen in excess of 120 million times.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday said it's freezing child care funds for Minnesota, explicitly citing Shirley's fraud allegations. Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O'Neill demanded that Minnesota officials carry out a "comprehensive audit" of the day care facilities featured in the video.

CBS News and WCCO conducted their own analyses of the day care centers. Contrary to Shirley's claims, all but two have active licenses, according to state records, and all have been visited by state regulators within the last six months.

Jonah Kaplan and Conor Wight contributed to this report.

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