DNA Leads to Arrest of in Daycare Sex Battery Case

Published: Wednesday, February 20, 2013 at 11:58 p.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, February 20, 2013 at 11:58 p.m.

WINTER HAVEN | Detectives used DNA evidence to arrest a 50-year-old man accused of sexually battering a 3-year-old boy at a home day care operated by the man's wife, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.

Detectives said Carroll Gardner battered the boy on Aug. 17 at Kat Gardner's 24/7 Daycare, which was run out of the couple's home on Seventh Street in Winter Haven.

The boy's mother told detectives that she picked up her two children that afternoon and asked her son how his day had gone. The child told her Gardner had touched him inappropriately, reports said.

A sexual assault kit was completed and DNA evidence collected from the boy was sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

On Dec. 28, lab results indicated foreign DNA was found and a warrant was obtained to collect DNA from Gardner on Jan. 14. On Tuesday, detectives learned the DNA collected from Gardner matched the foreign DNA found on the child, the Sheriff's Office said.

Gardner was arrested on a charge of sexual battery and is being held in the Polk County Jail without bail.

The Department of Children and Families was contacted after the incident. Gardner's wife told investigators she had planned to close the business before the incident and subsequently surrendered her license. The business closed Aug. 21, the Sheriff's Office said.

[ Clifford Parody can be reached at clifford.parody@theledger.com or 863-802-7516. ]

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DNA Leads to Arrest of in Daycare Sex Battery Case