Fri Nov 13th 09
Criminal Babysitters
After years of telling children, “Don’t talk to strangers” we all too often essentially invite “strangers” into our homes to watch our children without really finding out who they are. With horrifying headlines like, “Babysitter Convicted of Child Abuse”, “Babysitter Molested Child in Park”, “Babysitter Convicted of Murdering Child” and “Babysitter Arrested, Accused of Running Molestation Ring” no parent should feel that their neighborhood or home is immune to such a tragedy, but should know that by taking the time to look into not only the past but present criminal and social status of their potential sitter they can help protect their child. The dangers associated with allowing a stranger into their house were all too real for the couple of a two year old girl in Minnesota, who posted an ad seeking a babysitter on Craigslist and hired respondent twenty three year old Aaron Jay Lemon. While the parents were out Lemon assaulted the child and produced a pornographic video of the incident, to which he ultimately plead guilty in Federal Court to coercing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct.Should the sitter be watching the child at their own residence, the screening of the home’s occupants and its neighbors are just as important. While the sitter themselves may not have arise any concerns, learning that their spouse, child or neighbor may be a registered sex offender or have a criminal background would be a red flag to say the least. Tragically this was the case for at least twelve young children, ranging from fifteen years old to infancy, who were under the care of Coretta Jackson at her in home babysitting service in Pennsylvania when she knowingly allowed her live in boyfriend John Worman, who had a lengthy criminal history, to molest and rape them over a period of nine years, which he documented in over 1,100 pornographic images and videos.Investing the time and resources into having professional investigators not only perform criminal background checks but through independent reference screening you can turn up information which would otherwise have gone unknown. While your potential sitter may not have criminal convictions, arrests which are not referred for prosecution or have been expunged, are still available through court and police records, and could alert you to potentially alarming information, all of which experienced investigators have to knowledge needed to obtain.
