Former Horry County Teacher Pleads Guilty In Child Abuse Case

The children involved are said to have moderate to server special needs such as autism, many of which are non-verbal and range from ages seven to 10 years old.

A former Horry County teacher has pleaded guilty in connection to a child abuse case.

Grace McColgan was a special education teacher at Ocean Bay Elementary school. She is accused of wiping hand sanitizer on a child’s open wound to ‘let it burn’. However, she claimed she was wiping the wound or cut and simply warned them it would burn.

Despite her defense to that claim, McColgan did admit to hitting children in the back of the head when they appeared to be tired, sleeping, or not paying attention.

The children involved are said to have moderate to server special needs such as autism, many of which are non-verbal and range from ages seven to 10 years old.

McColgan pleaded guilty to six counts of unlawful conduct toward a child. She also waived her right to a grand jury trial. A judge sentenced her to 30 days in jail on the misdemeanor charges.