Prosecutors: Belmont daycare worker used gummy bears to lure children before exposing himself

BELMONT, N.C. — A former Belmont daycare worker pleaded guilty after prosecutors said he exposed himself to young children and tried to coax them into touching him with gummy bears and stickers.

Channel 9 first broke the news in September. Gaston County reporter Ken Lemon was the only reporter with a camera in court on Wednesday as O’Shay Leeper entered his plea.

According to parents who spoke in court, the children are traumatized by what they experienced. One father told the judge his daughter is now scared of men who try to pick her up.

Prosecutors said part of the reason for reaching a plea agreement was to ensure the children would not be forced to testify at trial.

“I’m furious,” one parent said.

Channel 9 is not identifying the parents to protect the identities of the children.

“What he did fills me with a level of anger that I have actually never felt before in my entire life,” that parent said.

Prosecutors said Leeper was trusted to care for children at the daycare at First United Methodist Church in Belmont. They said on multiple occasions, he woke a child during nap time, exposed himself and tried to get the child to touch him.

“Offered her gummy bears to do it,” prosecutor Stephanie Hamlin said.

Hamlin said it happened to five children during the spring of this year.

One mother told the judge what her 5-year-old daughter said about resisting her teacher.

“Mommy, you should be so proud of me. I not fall for it,” the child told her mother.

Prosecutors also said Leeper’s cellphone had a picture of a child’s exposed rear that appeared to have been taken at the daycare. Church leaders would only say Leeper no longer works there.

The prosecutor said Leeper could have received probation if the case had gone to trial. Instead, he pleaded guilty and received a minimum of four years in prison, followed by three years of probation and 30 years on the sex offender registry. He also cannot approach the children again.

“Just disgusting as a parent to know,” the mother said.

Some parents of those children are working with attorneys to file a suit against the daycare, claiming this situation could have been prevented.

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