Day Care Staff Reacts to Child Molester Charges
Story posted on 2006-08-10 18:56:00
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A former day care worker who admitted to molesting a young girl in his
care, now stands accused of molesting five more.
WFMZ's Joel D. Smith met with parents and staff at the school today.
He joins us now live from our Berks studios with the latest.
Joel?
Rob, It was this past June when according to court documents, Samuel
Ervin confessed to molesting a three- year-old girl at Trinity Learning
Center.
He's now pleading not guilty to those sexual assault charges, but now
he's accused of molesting 5 other girls, between the ages of 3 and 10
years old.
Unfortunately, those who deal with child predators say multiple victims
is not a surprise.
2:33 Chief Moyer
We would have been happy if it was one incident, but like you said,
during the investigation, we kept finding more stuff and kept digging,
hopefully we're done.
Pastor Derby 5:28
And when I found out there were 5 additional children I was angry and
disgusted and I really hurt for those families, and for our staff.
Our staff has really struggled through this, they have been hurt
greatly.
Reporter
Sam Ervin used to be a member of that staff at Trinity Learning Center
.
Now even though he's gone, Ervin is still the reason some parents are
thinking twice about keeping their children in the day care program.
1:25 Lynette Fowler
That still makes me wonder, if there's 5 more that makes me think about
other people that work here too.
Because people have to know what was going on.
Reporter
The school has been investigated by the state, and made a number of
security changes since Ervin's arrest.
But the leaders realize convincing parents to stay will be a challenge.
Roughly a half dozen parents have pulled students from the school since
June.
1:42 Fowler
I don't know, I don't know.
Ever since the thing's been going on I've been looking at other places,
so I have to keep my options open.
8:12 Pastor
As one parent stated, we're probably the safest place right now because
of the extra measures and we're going overboard to make sure the
children are safe.
I still feel for the parents who are wondering what they should do.
Ervin had passed a background check before he was hired.
And even though the school says it's done everything the state has
mandated before and after the event, the school's day care license
could still be revoked.
A hearing on that matter is scheduled for late September.
Rob.
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