Unnamed children 4-6 yo - accused: First Lutheran Church of Carson School - Carson, CA

Carson preschool to close after alleged student sexual activity
Friday, February 01, 2013
CARSON, Calif. (KABC) -- Shocking allegations of sexual activity among 4- and 5-year-olds have come out of a local pre-school in Carson, and the school is now shutting down.

Richard McCarthy says his 4-year-old son often received oral sex at school from a 5-year-old girl.

"He told me about all the bad things that girl had been doing to him," McCarthy said. "It went down in the classroom, it went down in the bathroom and it went down out on the playground."

At least one other boy at the First Lutheran Church of Carson School says he also received oral sex from the same girl.

"The two boys that have been introduced to this feeling that they don't know how to process are still looking for it, and trying to make it happen," McCarthy said.

The California Department of Social Services cited the school for at least one sexual incident between the kids, overall lack of supervision and an improper teacher-child ratio.

McCarthy and other parents are now joining attorney Greg Owen's lawsuit against the school and the church.

"To boil it all down, it comes to supervision," Owens said.

Parents are angry they were only given two weeks' notice that the school is shutting down for now. Church leaders wouldn't go on camera, but told Eyewitness News off-camera that there were only two incidents involving inappropriate touching among the kids, and those cases are closed.

They also said the school is closing because the director is leaving for personal reasons, and no teacher wants the job. They insisted student sex has nothing to do with the closure, something McCarthy said is a lie.

McCarthy says after the school told him his son was acting up again, he rushed to campus.

"I just had to keep yelling in his ear, 'You're not in trouble, you're not in trouble!' And I just told him, 'You're never coming back here again for these people to do this to you,'" McCarthy said, fighting back tears.

But now, he doesn't know where to send his son.

"There's no way I can just take him to another school and be that parent that just lets a predator loose," McCarthy said. "How else do you explain it?"

The school is set to close next Friday. Parents say the girl accused of the oral sex is no longer at the school.

Eyewitness News contacted the Department of Child Protective Services, but they said they legally could not comment on the investigation or on the welfare of the girl.

Owens plans to file the lawsuit on Monday.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=8977970

This is very disturbing. Not just the sexing of young children, which is bad enough. It's the non supervision. They could have easily died getting in things and situations. William

Carson preschool sex case: Mother of girl speaks out - Exclusive
Sunday, February 03, 2013

CARSON, Calif. (KABC) -- The mother of a little girl at the center of a shocking story of sexual activity at a local church preschool is speaking out.


"It's unfathomable on so many levels. For one, that it actually happened. For two, where it happened. For three, how often something happened," the mother said in an exclusive interview with Eyewitness News.

The woman, who asked to be identified only as Jane Doe, said her 5-year-old daughter was caught by a teacher inside a bathroom at school giving oral sex to a 4-year-old boy.

"I said, 'Where did you see this? How did you know that this was something to do? 'She said, 'I saw another little girl do it.' I said, 'Well, where?' 'Here at school.' 'When?' 'During nap time,'" the mother recalled.

Jane said investigators found no evidence of child abuse at her home. She provided us documents from the County of Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services showing the case was closed as inconclusive.

The First Lutheran Church of Carson School was cited by the California Department of Social Services for a sexual incident between kids. Jane's daughter said it wasn't an isolated incident.

"The way that she explained it, it was kind of like it was an everyday thing...from pulling the pants down to exposing themselves to, you know, trying to get somebody to put their mouth on the privates," said Jane.

Eyewitness News first broke this story on Friday when Richard McCarthy told us exclusively that his son often received oral sex at the school.

"It went down in the classroom, it went down in the bathroom, and it went down out on the playground," said McCarthy.

After seeing that story, attorney Greg Owens said more people started asking to join his lawsuit against the school and the church, so he is no longer planning to file it Monday. He is going to wait.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Carson Station says the story is prompting it to ask questions of various state agencies to see if any crimes were committed.

The school itself is set to close on Friday. School officials still haven't gone on camera, but told me off camera that they believe there were only two incidents involving inappropriate touching among the kids.
They said the school is closing because the director is leaving for personal reasons and no teacher wants the job. They insist student sex has nothing to do with the closure.

"I think they definitely tried to cover up the incidents," said Jane.

Jane pulled her daughter out of the school in October. She said her daughter is in public school now and doing better. As for Jane, the reality is still tough.

"As a mother, I tend to blame myself, thinking what if I had just asked the question, what if I could have found out somehow that this is going on," she said.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=8979514

No charges have been filed against any one person yet. Very disturbing. It's no wonder why home schooling and stay at home mom-dads is growing. I would not want my child in a day care center or public school these days. William

Carson preschool sex case: Campus shut down, pastor speaks out
Wednesday, February 06, 2013
CARSON, Calif. (KABC) -- First Lutheran Church of Carson School, where oral sex allegedly took place between preschoolers, has been shut down by the state.


In a letter obtained by Eyewitness News, the California Department of Social Services said it "determined that there was an immediate risk to the children in care" at the preschool. The letter said the school received a temporary suspension order Wednesday.

The department's licensing division visited the school Tuesday and said that during nap time, it observed a child putting their face near the buttocks of another child and began to bite at it. According to an evaluation report, there were five staff persons in the room, none of which saw the incident. One staff person was seated near the children and another was standing near them.

In an exclusive interview with Eyewitness News, the school's interim pastor, Mark Witte, said the staff members were shocked and saddened by the allegations.

"Most of all, I was shocked personally as a pastor from the allegations that were brought to us by state licensing today," Witte said. "Although we tried to address it on numerous occasions, it still continues to be part of the allegations and it is very distressing to me, especially after going through all those attempts to correct them."

In the letter, which was addressed to a parent, the department offers to assist in finding other child care arrangements.

Eyewitness News first broke this story on Friday when Richard McCarthy said his son received oral sex at the school multiple times.

On Tuesday, McCarthy was the first parent of eight different families to file a lawsuit against the school over allegations that their children participated in sexual activity on the campus.

In the suit, attorney Greg Owen alleges that a 5-year-old female student drew all over parent McCarthy's son's body with a marker during naptime in September.

"When I took his pants off to put him in the shower, he's got magic marker all over his privates and all over his butt," McCarthy said.

State regulators cited the school for that incident and for sexual contact between students.
In October, a teacher allegedly caught McCarthy's son in the bathroom receiving oral sex from the same 5-year-old girl who drew on him.

According to school officials, the school was set to close Friday because the director is leaving for personal reasons and no teacher wants the job. They insisted student sex has nothing to do with the closure. But that director is quoted by the state as saying, "We are closing down because our staff is not following through with proper procedure."

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?id=8983398§ion=news%2Flocal%2Flos_angeles