QUESTION:
Did police raid a DC daycare for alleged sex trafficking?
ANSWER:
No.
SOURCES:
Prince William County Police Department Press Release
Officer Nathan Probus- Public Information Officer Prince William County Police Department
Neon Nettle Website
PROCESS:
When a teacher is accused of sexual assault, it shakes the bedrock of a community.
Online trolls have no sympathy for the people and institutions they slur in pursuit of tricking you and instilling fear.
Verify received several questions about an article making waves online claiming a D.C. daycare got busted for puppeteering an "elite pedophile ring."
Locals asked whether police really raided the daycare and charged teachers with sex trafficking.
The "DC" school named is "MinnieLand Academy in Bristow." MinnieLand only has Virginia locations. So that's false.
Our researchers dug deeper and found that just days before this suspicious article was published, Prince William County police arrested and charged MinnieLand employee, Taylor Keith Boykin, 27, for sexually assaulting four 5 year olds.
Complaints involving Boykin were first investigated on March 29, 2018 by both police (who handle criminal cases) and Virginia's Department of Social Services (who handle civil cases.)
"Based on information obtained during the investigation, it was determined that a staff person who was supervising children, failed to provide care and protection to four children in care," a VA Social Services report reads. "Staff #1 was placed on admin leave immediately following the report and subsequently terminated. Parents have been notified."
When asked whether Boykin's criminal record includes leading a sex trafficking ring, Prince William County PIO Nathan Probus said, "no, no charges related to that."
Our team returned to NeonNettle.com, where the article was published, and found that since May 1, 2018, they've published 10 fake pedophile or trafficking stories.
Since January 17, 24 articles published about pedophiles. What's the most frequent name appearing? Pope Francis.
We can Verify, this story is false.
