The parents whose children got the crap scared out of them by Mississippi day care workers pushed hard for those adults to get hit with serious crimes, and it ultimately worked ... according to law enforcement.
Monroe County Sheriff Kevin Crook, who is spearheading the criminal investigation, tells TMZ ... 3 sets of parents ran to the County Courthouse to demand felony child abuse charges. They made it clear they thought the behavior was too egregious for misdemeanor charges.
As we reported ... 4 women are each facing 3 counts of felony child abuse over the video showing at least one worker terrifying kids from behind a scary mask.
Crook says child abuse was the only felony charge under state law that seemed to fit the allegations.
A fifth day care worker is facing 2 misdemeanor charges -- failure to report abuse and simple assault -- and the day care owner has reportedly fired all of the employees involved.
Crook says folks in the community alerted cops to the videos by forwarding links, and after viewing the footage ... he assigned an investigator to begin a criminal probe.
It's unclear at this point if any of these same parents intend to file civil lawsuits for infliction of emotional distress ... but it wouldn't be surprising, because it's clear they're pissed.