Swan Drive day care center, closed following arrests last week, had passed only 1 of 7 inspections [View all]

Swan Drive day care center, closed following arrests last week, had passed only one of seven state inspections since March 2013

BATON ROUGE -- After almost two years in business, Emmanuel Child Development and Learning Center in Baton Rouge abruptly closed Wednesday. A day later, it became clear why.

At a news conference on Thursday, U.S. Attorney Walt Green announced the arrests of 38 people, describing them as part of a wide-ranging and violent drug ring and accusing them, among other things, of using the north Baton Rouge day care as a storefront for their cocaine. A 39th person, D’Andre Smith, was named in the 58-page indictment but was gunned down the same day it was issued.

Barry Landry, a spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Education, said the state agency had been tipped off two days earlier that the day care’s 37-year-old director, Kimberly London, had been arrested. He said an agent from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration informed them that London and her husband, Kelly D. Williams, 39, were implicated.

“(London) was accused of allowing her husband to manufacture, store, package and distribute drugs in and from the child care center,” Landry said.

Read more: http://theadvocate.com/news/12843561-123/swan-drive-day-care-center