A Colorado daycare owner has been charged for hiding 26 toddlers in a basement using a false wall after parents complained of overcrowding at her home.

Play mountain place where children were hidden

Carla Faith, 58, had her daycare, Play Mountain Place, shut down in November after officers went to her property and discovered the children, all of whom were under three, being hidden inside.

She had been operating the daycare with a license for just six kids and, it is believed, when police arrived she hid the kids from view.  Officers persevered because they could hear the children inside.

They shut down that property and another three that she was operating.  Faith has now been charged with child abuse and charges relating to child abuse.

Her bond is $3,000. Authorities first visited the home in November amid reports of overcrowding.  At first, Faith refused to let them in.

‘The owner, identified as 58-year-old Carla Faith, refused to cooperate with officers; however, officers could hear the noises of children coming from her home,’ Lt. James Sokolik with the Colorado Springs Police Department said at the time.

He added that when police got inside, they found a ‘false wall’ which led to the basement.

Once they got to the basement, they found the 26 children and two adults.

‘Officers immediately began working with The Colorado Department of Human Services to release the children back to their parents,’ he said.

Three daycare workers were initially arrested for misdemeanor child neglect but the charges against them were dropped.

Katelynne Nelson, 31, was later arrested for a felony drug charge and child abuse.

It has since emerged that Faith was cited for other violations while running daycare homes in California in the 1990s.