NORWALK, Conn. (May 10, 2026) — A Norwalk day care operator received at least $142,000 in philanthropic funds intended to provide emergency child care for hospital workers during the COVID-19 pandemic while simultaneously violating the program’s own health and safety requirements, state inspection records show.
Robert P. Rubicco, who operated Anna & Jack’s Treehouse at 770 Connecticut Ave. under the entity 770 Treehouse LLC, was an approved provider in Project 26, an emergency child care program launched in March 2020 and funded by a $3 million gift from Dalio Philanthropies. The Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) administered the program in coordination with the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC).
Bank records from CREC’s account at Webster Bank show four outgoing wire transfers to Anna & Jack’s Treehouse between April 10 and May 8, 2020, totaling $142,046.01. The first transfer, $1.01 on April 10, was a standard verification test. Substantive payments followed: $49,245 on April 13, $70,350 on April 24, and $23,450 on May 8.
Additional payments may have been made. On June 3, 2020, OEC Commissioner Beth Bye authorized CREC to continue Project 26 operations through July 31, 2020, under a new contract worth up to $550,000 in state funds. Records covering that period have not yet been produced under a partially filled FOIA request by Talk of the Sound.
State inspection records obtained by under FOIA document two violations at the facility during the program’s operation.
On May 13, 2020, an unannounced OEC monitoring visit found that the provider failed to ensure the health and safety of children when a COVID-19 executive order limiting group size to 10 was not followed. Inspectors observed 11 school-age and preschool children grouped together in a classroom with two teachers. The inspection was signed by OEC Representative Karen Morgan and acknowledged by Annie Tolliver, the person in charge at the facility. A corrective action plan was due by May 27, 2020.
A follow-up inspection on May 20, 2020, found that staff failed to health-screen children — including failing to take temperatures and conduct health screening questions — upon the arrival of the state inspector. Inspectors noted the toddler classroom was operating at a 7-to-3 group size ratio. Project 26 required no more than four children per group for infant and toddler classrooms. A corrective action plan was due by June 4, 2020.
Both inspections were conducted under regulation 19a-79-3a(a), which requires providers to ensure the health and safety of children in their care.
Project 26 was funded by a broader $4 million pledge announced March 20, 2020, by Barbara and Ray Dalio and Dalio Philanthropies. The $3 million child care component was intended to pay for eight weeks of care for approximately 1,066 children at facilities located near the hospitals where their parents worked.
“To us, they are heroes,” Barbara Dalio said in the announcement. “The least we can do is make sure their children are taken care of while they’re on the front lines providing medical care.”
Talk of the Sound submitted six questions to Dalio Philanthropies on May 4, 2026, asking whether the organization was informed of the May 2020 violations, what oversight role it exercised over participating sites, what due diligence was conducted on operators before the program launched, and whether it had comment on Rubicco’s broader regulatory and legal history. A follow-up was sent May 8, 2026, noting that CREC records had been received and publication was imminent. Dalio Philanthropies did not respond.
The Project 26 violations are part of a broader pattern of regulatory failures at the Norwalk facility documented by Talk of the Sound. In December 2021, Rubicco signed a consent order with OEC admitting to more than two dozen violations at 770 Connecticut Ave., including knowingly making false statements to state investigators and safe sleep violations involving infants. He paid a $2,000 civil penalty. He subsequently violated the conditions of the consent order. OEC responded with routine corrective action plans and never invoked the consent order’s enforcement mechanism. Rubicco sold the facility to Cadence Academy Preschool in August 2024.
CREC records responsive to a January 2026 records request were received by Talk of the Sound on May 8, 2026. Records that appear to remain outstanding include the executed provider agreement between CREC and Anna & Jack’s Treehouse, the completed ACH authorization form submitted by Rubicco, weekly enrollment reports submitted by the facility, and payment records covering the June through July 2020 continuation period. Talk of the Sound has returned to CREC requesting those records.
Rubicco has a criminal history that includes a 2002 guilty plea to petit larceny and criminal mischief after stealing a deceased North Castle police sergeant’s gold shield and using it to impersonate a police officer at a New Jersey bar; a 2010 guilty plea to witness tampering after impersonating a Manhattan assistant district attorney to influence a witness; and a 2011 federal conviction for accessing a computer without authorization after IQPC reported him to the FBI. He served federal prison time after violating probation and completed his sentence in 2017.
Irish solicitors acting on Rubicco’s behalf have previously demanded removal of Talk of the Sound’s coverage. Talk of the Sound has declined.
This article was prepared with the assistance of AI tools under the direction and editing of Robert Cox.
Have information about this story? Email robertcox@talkofthesound.com (preferred) or contact via WhatsApp: +353 089 972 0669.
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