- Day care owner Denae Vanderburg faces charges accusing her of obstructing a child abuse investigation.
- Vanderburg allegedly tampered with witnesses and obstructed justice in a child abuse case.
- An employee is being investigated for allegedly putting a boy's face into the sand.
EAGLE MOUNTAIN — A day care owner is facing criminal charges accusing her of trying to obstruct a police investigation involving an employee who allegedly pushed a toddler's face into a sandbox.
Denae Alexandra Vanderburg, 33, was charged last week in 4th District Court with two counts of witness tampering, a third-degree felony, and five counts of obstruction of justice, a class A misdemeanor.
On Aug. 30, Utah County sheriff's deputies were called to investigate a possible child abuse case involving a 14-month-old boy at a day care in Eagle Mountain.
"The victim's parents reported that the day care center owner, Denae Alexadra Vanderburg, had told them that on Aug. 16, 2024, one of her employees had thrown a bit of sand into the victim's face," according to the charging documents.
But the parents say a second employee later told them that the employee who committed the abuse "had picked up the victim and forcefully shoved his face into sand for several seconds," the charges state. That second employee told investigators the boy "had been sitting in a sandbox crying when another employee ... had picked him up and forcefully shoved his face down into the sand for two-three seconds, and that she reported this incident to (Vanderburg)."
When questioned, Vanderburg told deputies the boy's mother had watched a livestream video of the incident but "did not want to be involved as a witness," according to the charges.
Deputies talked to Vanderburg again on March 20, and she claimed "in August 2024, she had instructed (the boy's mother) to delete any recordings because they were prohibited by the day care contract," the charges state. She also allegedly told the deputy that the mother still "did not want to get involved" and that she could not give police the mother's phone number "due to privacy concerns" and because the mother was no longer a client.
Investigators, however, were able to locate the mother and speak with her. She claimed Vanderburg told her in August "she did not need to speak to law enforcement and that (Vanderburg) would handle it," the charges allege. She also said that when a deputy went to the day care to speak with Vanderburg, Vanderburg told the mother on the phone "that the deputy wanted to speak with (the mother) but that there must be a misunderstanding and that (Vanderburg) would clear it up."
As for the video of the incident, the mother says she never saw it, and "(Vanderburg) had told her it was a different parent, and that parent wanted to remain anonymous," the charges state.
During their investigation, deputies obtained text messages between Vanderburg and an employee "in which (Vanderburg) stated that a parent had sent her a video of the incident and that it was 'very damning,'" according to the charges.
The 23-year-old employee admitted putting the boy's face in the sand, "but attempted to minimize the forcefulness of her action. She claimed she was attempting to shock the victim to get him to stop crying," the charges say.
She was charged in Utah County Justice Court in September with child abuse, a class B misdemeanor. A bench trial is scheduled for August.
