A Gilroy day care operator is being held at Elmwood Correctional Facility without bail on six felony child abuse charges. The charges allege that Christina Johnson engaged in oral copulation or sexually penetrated a child between six and eight years of age. Five of the charges carry a penalty of 15 years to life imprisonment.
Johnson operated a day care center at 6440 Hastings Place. Gilroy Police, via a social media post, have asked members of the public to “please refrain from approaching or making unwanted contact with neighbors or homes” on the street. Police say the child care facility “was in operation from October 2015 through October 2024.”
Public records show that state licensing officials were made aware of the deteriorating situation at the Hastings Road day care home, but that they were slow to act—even after Johnson was arrested on felony charges involving a minor two years ago.
State investigators took nearly two months to respond to the initial complaint and more than a year to build a case and take action to close the facility, which had left children in the care of young, untrained and inexperienced personnel, according to documents reviewed by the Gilroy Dispatch.
The first complaint arrived at the Department of Social Services on April 28, 2023, more than two years ago. It alleged that the licensee made inappropriate comments to a child and that a child was left unsupervised without an adult present.
Two months later, an investigator visited the facility and found the complaint to be “unsubstantiated.”
Meanwhile, Johnson faced felony stalking charges in Shasta County involving a minor. The charges were filed in December 2023.
Johnson’s day care center, nonetheless, remained in business.
In 2024, the home was subject of multiple complaints that included allegations of an unsafe environment and that the operator’s conduct posed a risk to children’s safety. No action was taken in response to the complaints.
However, during a routine annual inspection on May 10, 2024, the facility was cited for two technical violations: failing to document infant sleep check every 15 minutes and not completing mandated reporter training, which requires day care workers to report incidents of abuse to authorities.
On June 28, 2024, state officials visited the home and found the operator had left the children in the care of two workers, ages 18 and 15. Neither had completed required training and licensing requirements, and the older one had worked there less than three weeks. The backyard pool gate was open.
On Oct. 29, 2024, 11 months after Johnson was held for two days in jail for charges that she stalked a 7-year-old child and violated a no-contact order, then failed to inform regulatory officials of her arrest—four county and state licensing officials served a temporary suspension order for the child home care center and “the immediate exclusion of Christina Johnson.”
On Feb. 28 of this year, the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office filed misdemeanor child endangerment charges but Johnson was not held in jail.
On July 31, Gilroy Police certified the charges in Santa Clara County. She was arrested in Shasta County Aug. 11 and transferred to Santa Clara County, where she remains jailed and is awaiting trial.
The Gilroy Police Department asks anyone with information about other possible victims to contact its Investigations Unit. Detective Cupak can be reached at 408.846.0336 or emailed at Mi***********@**********oy.org.
