A longtime YMCA daycare worker in Neenah, Wisconsin, faces criminal charges after authorities say she gave melatonin to multiple toddlers at the center without parental consent. The complaint alleges dosing stretched over weeks and left parents alarmed and kids unusually sleepy, prompting a police probe and a misdemeanor neglect charge.
Officials charged Annalee Salas Nitz with one count of neglecting a child where specified harm did not occur, a misdemeanor that could bring jail time and fines if she is convicted. The reported timeline of incidents runs from late August through mid-October, according to the complaint filed by local investigators.
The situation came to light when a coworker reported a troubling scene in the infant room: a pacifier was removed, an item was placed in a child’s mouth, then the pacifier went back in. Days later staff found a small red gummy on the floor and a bottle labeled “Kids’ melatonin” tucked in a cabinet near the nap area, which violated the center’s own policies.
Surveillance video reviewed by investigators reportedly showed Nitz repeatedly putting items into children’s mouths, though the footage wasn’t clear enough to identify the items beyond being small and handheld. Police contacted the parents of ten children who had been at the center; none had authorized use of melatonin and several told officers their children had been unusually lethargic after attending the program.
“We don’t trust anyone anymore,” father Joe Boersma said after learning his young son was allegedly given the sleep aid at the center. Those words capture the shock many parents felt when they learned a caregiver might have been dosing toddlers without consent, especially in a place meant to be safe and supervised.
During a November interview with detectives, Nitz allegedly admitted she had slipped melatonin to children who were poor sleepers and sometimes mixed it into food, saying she might have given it to every child in the room over several months. “I’m guilty of it,” she told detectives, calling the practice “planned” but also describing it as a “bad choice” and a “very painful and humbling lesson,” language that appears verbatim in the charging documents.
The YMCA center’s chief operations officer alerted police after the initial report from an employee, and investigators followed up by reviewing footage and interviewing staff and parents as part of the probe. Nitz, who reportedly worked at the Neenah-Menasha YMCA Child Development Center for nearly 15 years, is scheduled for an initial court appearance in January.
Beyond the criminal case, the episode has raised immediate questions about supervision, medication policies, and transparency at childcare facilities, prompting calls for clear rules and strict enforcement. Parents and community leaders are now pushing for stronger safeguards so families can have confidence that caregivers will not make unilateral medical decisions for children in their care.
