Daycare provider made children's pajamas into straightjackets, pinned them to beds

By Emily Kaiser in Creepy, Crime

Tue., Nov. 10 2009 @ 9:00AM

It's a bad day for child abuse in the Twin Cities. A Golden Valley daycare provider allegedly created straightjackets out of children's pajamas and safety-pinned the kids to mattresses for discipline.

Arvilla Marie Lilly Meinhardt, 70, is charged with gross misdemeanor malicious punishment of a child and false imprisonment. She told police she was using this discipline method for eight years on 2- and 3-year-olds she cared for. She ran an in-home daycare.

Meinhardt told police she would take a child's arms out of their pajama sleeves and fasten the sleeves behind their backs with safety pins. She also said she would pin them to beds in their straightjackets during nap time. Sometimes, she would pin the pajama legs together or pin the zippers so the kids couldn't escape.