Mass. reviews day care license rules after owner's drug trafficking conviction

The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care says it is reviewing why the license of a day care provider in Boston's South End was repeatedly renewed after she was indicted in 2019 on federal trafficking charges.

The Boston Globe first reported Tuesday that Jenny Vicente-Desoto lost her license to operate Marjeli Childcare, a day care facility serving up to 10 children, in January after a probation officer reported to the court that she was still working with children.

Vicente-Desoto was convicted of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute more than a kilogram's worth of cocaine inside the day care while young children were under her supervision, according to court documents.

Acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Josh Levy called Vicente-Desoto's actions "an astonishing disregard for the safety of those children in her care."

She was initially indicted in Rhode Island District Court in 2019 before the federal case was transferred in early December 2023 to Massachusetts.

In a court brief on the conditions of her release — which moved to bar Vicente-Desoto from working with children or other "vulnerable populations" like older people or people with disabilities — Levy blasted Massachusetts officials, writing that "the current state regulatory system has proven woefully inadequate to detect and address these obvious dangers."

"Until alerted by undersigned counsel in January 2024, state regulators were either unaware of, or unconcerned with, the defendant’s criminal conduct and conviction, despite having twice inspected her daycare operation after her charging in this matter," Levy wrote. "In fact, state officials renewed her home daycare license in 2020, apparently ignorant of the 2019 conduct which gave rise to this case."

Alana Davidson, a spokeswoman for the state’s Early Education and Care department, said the agency “takes any charge seriously” and immediately moved to investigate Vicente-Desoto's day care license once it was notified of her misconduct in January.

Davidson added the department will examine whether "there are any parts of the discretionary review process that should have been approached differently or need to be revised moving forward.”

Levy's motion also requested Vicente-Desoto notify every parent of a child that was under her care of her criminal conviction and that "her drug trafficking crime took place at her last licensed daycare facility while children in her charge were present."

Vicente-Desoto received her first license to operate a day care in 2008, and it was most recently renewed in June of 2020, court documents show. In that time, according to EEC, she had completed background checks every three years as required by the department — as well as additional background checks upon request.

“Ensuring the health, safety, and wellbeing of children at licensed early education and care programs is a top priority of the Department of Early Education and Care," Davidson said in the statement.

Vicente-Desoto's lawyer, William Keefe, declined to comment.

In March of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic prompted then-Gov. Charlie Baker to temporarily close down child care facilities across the state, certain providers were approved to stay open as part of an emergency child care provider measure. That program, according to EEC, did not include checking staffers against state or national fingerprint databases, as is typical for department background checks. Vicente-Desoto was approved to reopen her day care as part of the state's emergency child care program in June 2020.

The department said it reissued her license in August 2022 based on information it possessed at the time.

Separately, the Globe reported that Vicente-Desoto's husband, Juan Valdez, was granted a first-time license on Dec. 29 to operate a day care out of a Beaver Street residence in Hyde Park.

The Globe's Shelley Murphy reports:

In response to inquiries from the Globe, the state said that license remains active, but is under investigation by the EEC. He did not list his wife as an employee of Jermal Day Care, which is licensed for up to six children, according to the state. However, on state corporation records, he lists her as a treasurer and secretary of the business, and in federal court filings last year in his wife’s drug case he was described as a full-time maintenance worker.

EEC said it has opened an investigation into Valdez's family child care program, including figuring out who frequents the day care, to determine if action against his license is necessary.