from www.chicagotribune.com – The Illinois Department of Child and Family Services is shutting down a Naperville day care after its operator was charged with prostitution, a spokesman said.
Amy Elizabeth Thoren [pictured], 42, who operates ABC & TLC Home Daycare in the 0-100 block of Bunting Lane, can surrender her license voluntarily or the department will issue an administrative order of closure, spokesman Kendall Marlowe said. Either way, the day care will not be operating while the case is pending, Marlowe said.
“If she is convicted, that serves as a permanent bar to her regaining her license,” he said.
Marlowe said the day care has been licensed with DCFS since 2006. On the most recent visit to the day care, he said the department found a few minor paperwork infractions that have since been corrected and one training violation that has not. The facility has not investigated the facility for child abuse or endangerment, he said.
Thoren was arrested Thursday along with two others as part of an investigation into individuals who advertised on Internet sites and engaged in sex acts for money at hotels and motels on Naperville’s far north side.
“Based upon the arrest and based upon the understanding they were operating a day care, we notified DCFS,” a police spokesman said.
Another woman, Bobbi Jo Rennicks, 32, who also was arrested and charged with prostitution, gave the same address as Thoren, but it is not known if she was involved in the business.
Marlowe said he has no information about Rennicks living at the home, even though DCFS requires anyone living at a day care facility to notify the department and submit to a background check.
A third woman, Virgen Perez Velazquez, 31, of the 2200 block of North Monitor Avenue in Chicago, also faces a charge of prostitution.