The City of Walnut Creek has released the confidential investigative report about the Lesher Center employee who was charged with unlawful sexual conduct with children. Read the entire report here.
From the city website:
At the direction of the Walnut Creek City Council, the City today is releasing an independent investigator’s report that examines City employees’ actions, or failure to act, upon learning of alleged improper and/or illegal behavior by part-time employee Jason Pedroza. The report is available on the City’s website.
The report states that on Nov. 3, 2012, certain City staff learned of allegations that Pedroza, 28, sent inappropriate texts and Facebook messages to a 13-year-old Danville girl he met while both were actors in a Contra Costa Musical Theatre production, a non-profit theatrical company that performs at the Lesher Center.
City staff took “proactive steps” to “protect minors at the Lesher Center for the Arts, not to hinder efforts by any law enforcement agency – including the Walnut Creek Police Department – to investigate suspected child abuse,” the report states.
Those steps included terminating Pedroza on Nov. 8, and removing him from the cast of an upcoming Center REP production.
In addition, the report notes that staff knew the Danville Police were investigating the Nov. 3 allegations.
The internal investigation also finds in part that:
- The Danville Police concluded on Nov. 11 that no crime had occurred in relation to Pedroza’s messages to the 13-year-old girl.
- Until Nov. 3, none of the witnesses interviewed was aware of, or suspected, that Jason Pedroza had been acting appropriately in any way with minors.
- No witness interviewed had observed, or was aware of, inappropriate contact between minors and adults at the Lesher Center for the Arts.
The internal investigation also finds that the City Manager and Assistant City Manager knew about the Nov. 3 allegations and did not share that information prior to being interviewed in connection with the internal investigation.
The report states that “on a parallel track, on Nov. 9, the Pleasant Hill Police Department began an investigation into separate allegations” by a 16-year-old Contra Costa Musical Theatre cast member regarding text messaging from Pedroza. Those messages were determined to be more serious in nature than the messages sent to the Danville victim, according to the independent investigation, and involved a second Pleasant Hill teen, also a member of the Contra Costa Musical Theatre production.
The administrative investigation did not reveal that any City employee interviewed knew of the allegations made to the Pleasant Hill Police Department in November 2012. Pedroza is facing two felony and two misdemeanor charges.
Mandated Reporter Training
The investigation identified that Mandated Reporter training was not provided consistently across the organization, although the majority of City programs that deal with children did provide such training.
To close this gap, the City will implement a Mandated Reporter training policy to ensure that all staff who work with children know how to identify and report suspected child abuse or neglect. A draft policy is currently under review.