New law could help in daycare death case

SUNRISE, Fla. (WSVN) -- Prosecutors are betting on a legal first to help build a case in the death of a child in the care daycare workers.

Jeremy's Law is an obscure law, but one prosecutors think will help in the case of 4-year-old Jordan Coleman, who died after being locked in a hot car by a daycare worker in August, outside a Tamarac apartment.

The law is named after a boy who died under similar circumstances after he was left unattended in a crib in 1997. He died after he rolled over on his stomach and suffocated. Essentially, Jeremy's Law, which has been on the books for 13 years, says it is illegal for a daycare provider to misrepresent what is going on inside their business.

For instance, when a parent is told there is only four or five children in the daycare when there actually turns out to be double or even triple that amount. Then, that is a violation of Jeremy's Law, a second degree felony.

Jeremy's father, Mark Fiedelholtz, helped create Jeremy's Law. He met with the media Thursday afternoon. "I want to tell the Coleman family that they're not alone," he said. "Sometimes I felt the Fiedelholtz family was very alone. But you're not alone. The Broward County State Attorney cares, millions of people that are going to be watching this case care."

Cecily Roberts, who owns 3C's Day Academy in Sunrise, and her daughter, Camile Jordan, were arrested in New York City, last week. Investigators were surprised to learn that Roberts was operating another daycare in NYC, the L.R. Academy in Brooklyn.

According to police, Roberts had lied about how many kids she was caring for. Police said, in order to hide it, another daycare employee, 19-year-old Paris Ward, took several children to an apartment but forgot Jordan inside the van. The teen has since been charged with aggravated manslaughter in the child's death.

"This case made me absolutely sick to my stomach, and it's the reason I'm here today," said Fiedelholtz.

Roberts and Jordan remain in a New York prison. If convicted, each could face up to 15 years in prison.

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