Day care unexpectedly shuts down weeks after parents put down deposit

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Parents are left scrambling to find new day cares for their children after a Lawrenceville facility unexpectedly closed this week.

Parent Jessica Davis gave Channel 2 investigative reporter Nicole Carr a call when she said she couldn't get in touch with Anthony Thornton this week.

Thornton and his wife own and operate the Gwinnett Learning and Youth Entrepreneurship Academy.

Davis' 2-year-old twins were set to start Monday, just a couple of weeks after she put down a cash deposit.

"I was told there were three spots left in the toddler room," Davis said.

She drove past the day care earlier this week but said she noticed all the signs were taken down.

"Everything was cleaned out completely," Davis said.

When Carr showed up to the day care, she found Sunny Suhweil, who said he's been having trouble getting the rent from Thornton since January, so he evicted him Thursday.

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"I tried so hard to work with him. He had 52 kids. You have 52 kids, you can pay the rent," Suhweil said.

Carr contacted Thornton. He said he doesn’t owe thousands but settled a small, $650 late payment dispute outside court last month.

Records show a case involving the Thorntons and Suhweil was dropped in October when Suhweil missed a response deadline. Thornton said he is refunding parents.

Thornton sent Channel 2 Action News the following statement:

"We immediately contacted every parent face-to-face, via email, text and voicemail about distributing refunds. Many have already been refunded. We will continue to refund parents until all have been paid."

At this point, Davis said she hasn’t received anything beyond promotional text messages and an email sent late Friday afternoon about relocating.

Suhweil wants about $5,500 in October expenses paid.

The Thorntons want an $8,000 deposit back to refund parents and say they are asking them for Cash App account information.

Cox Media Group