When a mother arrived to drop off her daughter at Little Arias daycare in Denham Court one morning in April, she was surprised to find it empty.
“It was gutted, everything was emptied, toys were gone, everything was in the bin,” she told 9News.
The owner of the Sydney business, Anna Marie Gewargis, messaged parents claiming there was a gas leak.
In reality, the 32-year-old had been evicted, after failing to pay rent on the property for three months.
Parents with children enrolled at the family-run daycare claim they have not only been left without childcare, they’re out of pocket – in some cases by thousands of dollars.
“She was offering packages but because we were so desperate at that time, we jumped at those packages”, said one father.
Many claim Gewargis pressured them to pay the fees months in advance, then disappeared with their money when the daycare suddenly shut.
They say they’ve tried to contact her to ask for their money back but have never received a refund.
“I’ve messaged her countless times, I’ve tried to call her. I’d paid her close to $3800.”
It’s not just parents who claim they’ve been ripped off, investors in the childcare business also claim they were blindsided.
One western Sydney business owner, who was a silent partner in the business, has documents which show he transferred Gewargis close to $270,000.
“I thought this was going to be beneficial for my family, for my future,” he told 9News.
“About three months in, payments were starting to be missed and excuses were piling up. I was devastated, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat.”
Another investor claims he gave her $80,000.
Coincidentally, around the same time, Gewargis hosted a lavish engagement party at Paradiso at Fairfield.
Adding to the fury of parents, the NSW Department of Education, the regulator for early childhood education and care, has confirmed Gewargis never had approval to open the daycare.
In a statement, a department spokesperson said: “Gewargis has been prohibited from working in or operating an early childhood education and care service anywhere in Australia. We continue to investigate this matter.”
Gewargis is also currently facing three charges of common assault, relating to children in her care.
She was so determined to hide the allegations, she tried to get a suppression order to stop the charges being reported but the magistrate hearing the case refused to grant the application.
NSW Police is now investigating the allegations of fraud under Strike Force Lutterworth.
When 9News approached Gewargis, who currently resides at Rosebery, she ran.
At the home on Grantham Crescent now, there’s no sign a childcare was ever there.
The landlord says he didn’t know Gewargis was running a business and claims, when she left, she even took the built-in microwave.
Parents now say they want to move on but are speaking out to warn others.
“I just can’t think of how many people are going to get ripped off.”
