Antonio and his brother were driving westbound on Lincoln Avenue on the morning of Thursday, December 18, when they first saw the toddler.
The siblings are local general contractors. Antonio—who requested that the Alameda Post not use their full names—explained they were curiously checking out the house currently being renovated at the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Lafayette Street, when they spied the young boy alone on the sidewalk, in front of the home, without any apparent supervision.
After quickly doubling back, the brothers got out of their vehicle to assess the situation. Antonio began looking around for a parent or guardian, but when no frantic adults came out in search of their missing child, his brother called 911.
Antonio soon realized he could hear kids playing nearby, so he carried the boy with him and followed the sounds to the gated driveway of the house next door. Unbeknownst to him at the time, the home is the site of Little Crumbles Day Care, a family child care business that has been in operation since 2001.
“I walk up to the gate, and I could see five or six kids playing in the side yard, and one adult at the end of the backyard with her back towards me,” relayed Antonio. Assuming that this was where the toddler likely belonged, he entered the yard through the gate—which Antonio found had been left slightly ajar—and attempted to get the attention of the staff member.
“It was the fourth or fifth ‘excuse me’ that got her,” he said. He recalls that she appeared surprised and took the child from his arms, while only apologizing repeatedly in response to his attempts to figure out what happened. He did not get an answer before she shut the gate, so he and his brother left after speaking with the Alameda Police Department (APD) after a patrol vehicle arrived on scene.
“Based on initial investigation, the child was believed to have been unsupervised for a few minutes,” said Michaelia Parker, a Crime Prevention and Community Relations Specialist with APD, in a statement to the Post. “It is unclear how the child was separated from the group.”
Parker added that the case has been referred to the Alameda County District Attorney’s office for child endangerment against the supervising employees, but not against the establishment.
Christine Kanbergs, who owns and operates Little Crumbles, declined to speak with the Post. But according to the Little Crumbles Day Care website, Kanbergs “has a long history in child development education [and] participates in professional childcare provider workshops and conferences at both the state and local levels.”
The day care business also employs three staff members—identified only as Miss Lily, Miss Patty, and Miss Hana—each of whom are mothers and have worked at Little Crumbles for multiple years. The facility has a maximum capacity of 14 children and features indoor and outdoor activity areas and play spaces.
Meanwhile, the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has opened its own investigation into the incident, confirmed Jason Montiel, a spokesperson for the agency. CDSS cannot comment because the investigation is ongoing, but Montiel did provide an overview of steps CDSS typically follows after receiving a complaint, which can include inspections and tours of the facility, interviews with those involved, and review of all available evidence. A report will be posted on the facility detail webpage for Little Crumbles on the DSS website once the investigation is complete.
This is not the first time Little Crumbles has faced scrutiny from Social Services. In May 2021, the agency issued four citations after investigating and substantiating multiple complaints, including incidents involving staff yelling at children or handling a child in a rough manner (leaving a bruise) as forms of discipline, and after a child was left unsupervised on multiple occasions inside the main house while staff was outside in the backyard.
More recently, Little Crumbles was cited in September 2025 after CDSS found that two assistants did not have proof of immunization for Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR), which posed “a potential health, safety or personal rights risk to persons in care,” according to the facility evaluation report.
Antonio said he is relieved that it was him and his brother who found the toddler alone on the sidewalk in December, fearing that “it could have been someone bad” who got to the child first. However, he expressed frustration at Kanbergs, who, in the days following the incident, appeared to him to be denying responsibility in social media posts—many of which have since been deleted. Antonio also accuses Kanbergs of harassment, after she sent repeated messages to him and his family members through social media, accusing them of spreading misinformation about the situation.
Although the incident has left him rattled, Antonio said he has one final thought for Little Crumbles: “Change the policies, because they’re clearly not working.”
The child’s family has requested confidentiality and declined the Alameda Post’s request for comment about the incident.
Ken Der is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post. Contact him via [email protected]. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Ken-Der.
