Four daycare staff in New Hampshire were detained on Thursday after reportedly spiking children's food with the sleep hormone melatonin. Although available over the counter, the long-term effects on children are not understood.

The arrests are the result of an investigation conducted in November 2023 at a US daycare in Manchester, New Hampshire.

ABC News claimed that authorities were summoned to investigate an allegation of "unsafe practices going on" at the daycare in question, citing a press statement from the Manchester police department.

Officers arrested Sally Dreckmann, 52, the daycare owner, as well as three of her employees: Traci Innie, 51, Kaitlin Filardo, and Jessica Foster, both 23, after a 6-month investigation revealed children had been secretly given melatonin.

Police stated that melatonin was being "sprinkled" into food without parents' knowledge or consent.

Dreckmann and her three coworkers are each charged with ten counts of endangering children, according to the New York Daily News.

It is unknown how many children were affected and for how long. 

There have been multiple cases of melatonin overdoses in youngsters in recent years. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), children who mistakenly took melatonin accounted for around 7% of hospital emergency room visits between 2012 and 2021.

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The American Academy of Sleep Medicine released a health warning on the use of melatonin around children and adolescents, citing a lack of oversight by the US Food and Drug Administration.

According to WBZ News, police also learned that Dreckmann's daycare was not properly licensed. It is permissible to run an unlicensed childcare service in New Hampshire as long as no more than three children are supervised at once.

Local neighbors informed WBZ that they were unaware that a daycare was functioning in their neighborhood.

Gary Boucher, a self-identified grandparent, called the matter "outrageous", hoping that the police would take it a step further and close the establishment.

NYC daycare owner charged after infant dies of overdose

In September of 2023, a Bronx daycare owner was detained on a count of depraved indifference murder, as well as narcotics charges, after a one-year-old child died from probable fentanyl overdose under her watch. 

Authorities said three additional children, an eight-month-old girl and two two-year-old boys, appeared to have been harmed by the deadly synthetic opioid.

Grei Mendez, the proprietor of the daycare, was detained by the New York City Police Department (NYPD). Carlisto Acevedo Brito, one of Mendez's renters, was also charged with depraved indifference murder and narcotics possession in connection with the tragic incident.

Mendez, 36, and Brito, 41, were detained one day after the children exhibited evidence of having been poisoned by an opiate. Nicholas Dominici, one, died at a hospital near his daycare, according to authorities.

According to accounts, emergency medical professionals resuscitated three additional children at the daycare after using the opiate overdose antidote Narcan.

Mendez and Brito are also charged with assault and endangering a child out of the home-run daycare.