The NYPD has finally cuffed a taxpayer-funded baby-sitter who was caught on camera nearly a month ago brutally beating a pair of kids with a belt nearly 60 times.
La’keysha Jackson, 24, was arrested by NYPD officers around 9:20 a.m. Wednesday and was charged with two counts of assault of a child, officials said.
Jackson was silent as she was led out of the Bronx Special Victims Unit early Wednesday afternoon, but she flashed a smirk towards the gaggle of reporters after officers placed her in a car.
The horrifying video was turned over to cops May 6, but it was a month before a warrant was issued for her arrest — and another two weeks before she was taken into custody.
“Our clients can rest easier now knowing that Ms. Jackson is no longer on the street,” the family’s lawyer, Daniel Szalkiewicz, told The Post. “We thank the NYPD for helping this family heal and for ensuring there will be accountability for Ms. Jackson’s actions.”
Jackson worked for Bronx mother Geraldine Jaramillo starting last year via a contractor paid for by the city’s Administration for Children’s Services that provides struggling families with baby-sitters to help with caretaking.
Days after The Post reported on the brutal babysitter, the city’s Department of Investigation launched a probe, saying that the story raised “serious concerns about the vetting practices of this ACS-contracted vendor, among other issues.”
Nearly $400 million in city contracts have been awarded to the vendor, Selfhelp, since 2008 according to city records.
Jaramillo said that before the family discovered the beatings, everyone “loved” Jackson — including teachers at the kids’ school.
That all changed on May 6 when a doting grandma discovered the heartless beatings because the web-connected camera in her daughter’s home was sending her notifications at odd hours.
When the Pennsylvania-based grandma checked the camera, she was horrified to see that the babysitter was beating two of her grandkids, boys ages 4 and 6.
“We called the police and filed the report and we went to the hospital,” Jaramillo told The Post of the aftermath of the shocking May 6 incident.
Further review of the camera revealed at least a month of beatings that also included Jaramillo’s youngest boy, aged 2, according to the family and a legal filing.
“She was beating the kids every other day,” said the kids’ grandpa Rudy Enamorado, who drove two hours from his Pennsylvania home once he saw the footage. “The worst thing we did was let our guard down.”
Despite a slew of detectives arriving at the house, the cops failed to arrest her that evening, Enamorado said.
Jackson was fired from the ACS contractor once officials learned of the incident, according to reps from the agency and vendor Selfhelp.
Since 2008, Selfhelp has been awarded $393.2 million in city contracts, with $83 million in active contracts, according to records.
Its relationship with ACS stretches back to 2009, with a total of $92.2 million in contracts for Homemaker services — the same service utilized by Jaramillo — records show, with an active contract for $19.3 million that runs until Dec. 2026.
Jackson was the second sitter sent to the family after the first Selfhelp employee was discovered boozing and smoking at a playground while watching the three kids, according to the legal filing.
DOI spokesperson Dian Struzzi told The Post that “while DOI intends to conduct an investigation,” their access to caregiver records and involvement with children “may be precluded by State law,” an issue thoroughly laid out by Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber in an opinion essay published last month.
“These access limitations can thwart our investigations,” Struzzi said.
ACS told The Post earlier this month that it was conducting its own investigation into “these despicable actions,” but declined to comment on Jackson’s arrest.
Selfhelp also declined to provide any comment on the arrest.
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