State regulators have shut down a troubled Morrisville childcare center owned by a man who is accused of defrauding parents out of tens of thousands of dollars.
Little Saplings Preschool racked up numerous violations of state regulations and was forced to close last Thursday, one day after Seven Days published a story detailing complaints about businesses operated by Scott Breveleri, the center’s owner. He ran a second Little Saplings center in Colchester, which closed suddenly on October 23 after he was evicted for failing to pay rent.
About a dozen parents at that center told Seven Days that Breveleri collectively owes them $50,000 in prepaid tuition and deposits. There’s even a Facebook group called “Scammed by Scott Breveleri,” which contains allegations dating to 2019 from people who claimed Breveleri had made off with their money while he ran a variety of business ventures. Some parents are preparing to take legal action against Breveleri. And the Vermont Attorney General’s Office has referred three complaints against him to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which investigates financial fraud and scams, among other crimes of exploitation.
Meanwhile, Breveleri hadn’t been allowed on the Morrisville property while children were present since October 29. That’s when a former girlfriend received a relief-from-abuse order against him stemming from allegations of physical harm.
Breveleri did not respond to requests for comment.
Seventeen children were still attending Little Saplings in Morrisville when the Child Development Division of the Vermont Department for Children and Families suspended the center’s license to operate on November 7. A “notice of suspension and intent to revoke” letter sent to Breveleri on that day cites 11 violations of state regulations.
One notes that the business name, Little Saplings Preschool, has been terminated by the Secretary of State’s Office. Bryan Mills, chief of staff to the secretary of state, confirmed that Little Saplings business filing was “administratively terminated” on April 1 for failure to submit its annual report. Breveleri “hasn’t taken any action to get reinstated,” Mills said.
Another violation described a complaint from a staff member about Breveleri’s behavior.
“The Licensee, Scott Breveleri, videotaped himself in a gynecological medical office being sexually explicit with a medical device, and showed the video to a female staff member while in the program, and in front of at least one other individual,” the report says. “A second staff member reports that Scott Breveleri told her about the video and what he did with the medical device. That staff member describes being disgusted and found it ‘gross.’”
Another violation stemmed from an incident in which a young child in the program was found alone in the lobby of the building by a community member.
“The community member reports that when no one came looking for the child after a period of 10-15 minutes, the community member took the child into the childcare program and inquired if the child was supposed to be with them. The staff member said ‘yes,'” the description of the violation reads.
The letter also states that Breveleri provided false information to the state on multiple occasions, including about having set up a phone at the Morrisville center. And Breveleri told the state that he had submitted a criminal background check form for a staff member but could not show documentation proving he had. He also told licensors he wasn’t aware Little Saplings was being evicted from its Colchester location until he arrived at the building and saw that the locks had been changed. But the state found emails and a letter from several days before that notified him of the imminent eviction.
Kyrsta Patnoe, whose son attended the Morrisville center, told Seven Days that she was informed at pickup on Wednesday, November 6, that the center would be closing the next day, leaving her without care for her child. Staff told her that a state licensor had just left the building.
People responded to the closure on the private “Scammed by Scott Breveleri” Facebook group, which now has 698 members.
“I want to say thank you to the staff and the Director for trying so hard,” one anonymous poster wrote. “It’s definitely sad for the kiddos sake because that’s all they know but it’s definitely not the staff’s fault that this is happening.”
Just a few days before the closure, on November 4, Breveleri sent staff a lengthy message about his financial difficulties. He wrote that their paychecks would be delayed, but he promised to pay them for two weeks, with a $100 bonus to make up for the delay. A teacher who provided Seven Days the letter said she did receive a paycheck on Friday as promised.
In the message, Breveleri said his current girlfriend had loaned him $5,000 and his parents $13,000 to cover payroll and to pay back rent on the Morrisville building.
“I am not living the high life by not paying you guys today,” Breveleri wrote. “I have exhausted every resource I have besides my inheritance CD that is not easily available to get at this moment due to it not being in the state here.”
In the message, Breveleri said he and his girlfriend would be offering staff $100 gift cards as well as a special lunch and dessert before Thanksgiving break to thank staff for their hard work.
Breveleri also told staff that the state had banned him from being at the school during operating hours. He said that, for the time being, he’d be working from home and was also taking on a part-time job operating a skid steer for his friend’s construction company to get “extra money the school needs coming in.”
Even with things spiraling out of control, Breveleri projected an air of confidence — announcing an open house and spaghetti dinner for current and prospective families on November 22.
“I have a vision for what we can all do together and that’s for us all to be an amazing team who works well together and has fun and goes out on team nights to have a nice time,” he wrote. “[T]here are so many families in the area that we can fill this place up and make it as nice as we can with us all working together.”
Correction, November 11, 2024: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this story misreported the status of a paycheck a teacher received last week.
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This article appears in Nov 6-12, 2024.
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