When a 16-year-old boy was accused of sexual battery at a Pasco daycare earlier this week, it wasn’t the first time deputies investigated the teen for inappropriate behavior towards a toddler.

  • Teen arrested for raping a 3-year-old girl investigated before
  • In 2013 DCF said the incident didn't meet the criteria for an investigation
  • The daycare where the rape allegedly occured will be closed for at least 90 days

A report shows the Florida Department of Children and Families knew about the previous allegations and did not launch their own investigation.

Pasco deputies arrested the 16-year-old on Tuesday on charges that he raped a 3-year-old girl.

The teen had access to unsupervised children at his mother's in-home daycare in Trinity, though he did not work there. The daycare operated under the name "Jacque’s Teddy Bear Child Care," licensed as Thomas Gibson Family Day Care Home and owned by Jaqueline Thomas-Gibson.

At the same daycare in 2013, Pasco deputies investigated allegations that the teen abused a four-year-old in a similar way. Though no charges were filed, deputies still called the child abuse hotline, as mandated by law.

“That’s the whole process by which these allegations come to light through the state,” Pasco Sheriff’s Office Spokesperson Kevin Doll said. “If there’s an allegation of child abuse or neglect, you go through the hotline to make those allegations known. It’s recorded.”

At first, a spokesperson for DCF told us via email that the 2013 investigation “was not reported by law enforcement to the child abuse hotline. Therefore there is not a report from us.”

That turned out to be a clerical error. A copy of the document obtained from the Pasco Sheriff’s office shows that a deputy did call in February 2013, though the incident apparently didn’t meet DCF’s threshold.

DCF Communications Director Jessica K Sims further explained in a statement emailed:

“Based on the law at the time, the report did not meet statutory criteria to be screened in by DCF for an investigation based on the age of the alleged perpetrator. The 2013 hotline report was appropriately screened out by DCF and referred to law enforcement for investigation.”

DCF is now conducting a child care licensing review and the in-home daycare is shut down for at least 90 days while DCF investigates. The Pasco Sheriff’s Office also continues to investigate, as more children who were recently enrolled in the day have come forward.