Day Care 'Didn't Have Chance' to Inform Parents After Alleged Molestation

Written with reports by Olga Enger.

Tender Care Learning Center did not notify parents of Tuesday's alleged molestation prior to Newport Patch's article nearly 24 hours later, according to the center's co-owner.

"We didn't have a chance to do anything before the media leaked the news," said Gregory Johnson, one of the daycare's owners, in an interview at his home on Thursday afternoon. Johnson also runs a licensed daycare center out of his Gould Street home.

An unpaid 17-year-old intern was allegedly videotaped with his hands up the shorts of a 5-year-old student at the daycare center located on Dr. Marcus Wheatland Boulevard on Tuesday afternoon. Police were immediately notified and the teenager was arrested at 4:40 p.m. that afternoon after he was confronted by staff and left the center. The 17-year-old is a relative of Johnson, according to initial police reports.

"We followed every DCYF [Dept. of Child Youth and Family] protocol and notified police right away," Johnson added. "We notified the parent, and the police and the director told her to take [the child] to the hospital."

Johnson emphasized that the incident was "inappropriate touching" and not an instance of rape or sodomy.

"This was inappropriate touching and people are thinking that a little girl was taken somewhere and raped in my center, but this was inappropriate touching," Johnson said. "My neighbors are thinking a child was being raped and sodomized in my center."

As an unpaid volunteer at the center, the 17-year-old would not be allowed in a direct supervisory or disciplinarian position over children without the presence of staff, according to state DCYF licensing regulations. Johnson originally referred to the teenager as an unpaid intern in initial police reports.

“I’ve never heard of the term ‘intern’ in a state facility,” said Capt. Hayes, of the Newport Police Department. Part of the investigation will be to look at the center’s adherence to licensing and staffing requirements, he said.

Newport Police and DCYF will conduct investigations, but Johnson said no internal investigation would be conducted as to the conduct of staff and adherence to state regulation.

"DCYF is going to do a thorough investigation, the police department is going to do a thorough investigation — these are trained professionals," said Johnson. "How could we do a better job than the trained professionals who do this for a living?"

Read a statement provided by Tender Care Learning Center here.