News Article: Former staffer caught raping girls in organization daycare headed to prison

[Offender] — the former [organization’s daycare] worker caught molesting two young girls in the downtown [organization] daycare — was sentenced Friday to 27 ½ years in prison, according to [County] District Court records.

[Offender], 22, pleaded no contest in February to two counts of rape. Authorities say in January 2018, [offender] sexually abused a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old in his care at the [organization’s daycare], a place where parents and caregivers can drop of children under age 8 for up to two hours while they exercise or take classes. Police arrested him after the 4-year-old girl disclosed that she’d been struck twice in the face by [offender] then taken into a bathroom and touched.

During that investigation, detectives discovered security video that showed [offender] pushing his hand down the 3-year-old’s pants and underwear a few days earlier.

The case prompted the [organization] to add security cameras, including in [daycare], and change some of its policies.

At the time of his arrest, [offender] had worked part-time for the [organization] for five years and was a caregiver on staff, according to [local newspaper] news archives. He’d previously been fired from a local church preschool after someone complained that he’d inappropriately touched children.

In a motion asking the court for leniency, [defense attorney] blamed [offender’s] poor decisions on a narcotics addiction. [Judge] imposed a 330-month sentence.