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Day care owner arrested for molesting employees
Kimberly Kuizon reports.
PARRISH, Fla. - The owner of Country Cubs Day Care was arrested on Tuesday after an investigation revealed that he committed lewd and lascivious acts on two teenage girls who worked in the day care, according to detectives.
"Everybody seems happy going in there. It’s a total shock," said neighbor Christopher Tucker.
Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Crimes Against Children detectives say they first learned about an allegation that 58-year-old Sanjay Das inappropriately touched a teenage girl last summer.
"We interviewed several staff members, some a prior manager who indicated that she was in charge of the hiring and seeking out employees. She had been given a directive to specifically look for young teenage girls to work at the day care," said Lt. Mark Morie with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Crimes Against Children.
According to officials, detectives spent several months interviewing employees and found an additional victim. Investigators say the victim was another teenage girl who experienced similar contact with Das while working at the day care located at 122294 US 301 N, Parrish.
Courtesy: Manatee County Sheriff’s Office
From the allegations of the touching and some of the things he said and did were not in normal character for an employer of a daycare," said Lt. Morie.
According to detectives, they had probable cause to charge Das with lewd and lascivious molestation and lewd and lascivious touching of certain minors after the investigation.
"No stone was left unturned. We are still investigating it. We are interviewing prior employees to see if similar allegations are going to come up," said Lt. Morie.
On Tuesday, officials say they executed a search warrant and arrested Das after a lengthy interview.
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During his first appearance a judge gave Das a $20,000 bond and said he could make bail on a supervised release.
According to investigators, there is no evidence that Das committed crimes against any of the children who attended the day care.
"I want to be clear about this. There was no indication that there was any danger to any of the children at the daycare. If that had been a concern back in August, we would have taken immediate action. But we determined at this point from what we know from the victims and witnesses there have been no allegations of any kind of misconduct with any of the children," said Lt. Morie.
The investigation is ongoing, according to the sheriff's office.
The day care remains open since none of the crimes were committed against young children attending. DCF will conduct their own investigation. They are also responsible for handling the license for the center.