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Day-care employee accused
of sex abuse
Source: Dallas Morning News
January 05, 2001
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Arrest made after 2 girls reported incidents in Catholic church's after-school program
Dallas police arrested a Catholic school day-care worker Thursday on charges that he sexually abused two girls who
attended St. Pius X Catholic Church's after-school program, investigators said.
Julio A. Marcos, 35, was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault. Police said he sexually abused
a 9-year-old and a 10-year-old at the center.
Mr. Marcos, who supervised children, was taken to the Lew Sterrett Justice Center, where he awaited a bond hearing
late Thursday. He was unavailable for comment.
Mr. Marcos' mother, Edith Marcos, who is also a member of the parish at 3030 Gus Thomasson Road in Far East Dallas,
said she did not know anything about the investigation.
"He has always been honest and a wonderful son and a hard worker," Mrs. Marcos said.
Police said they are investigating whether other children had been abused.
Mr. Marcos had been an employee and church member for years, said Deputy Chief Alfredo Saldana, who
heads the youth and family support division.
"We're still too early in the investigation to tell how many other children may be possible victims,"
said Sgt. Byron Fassett, a supervisor in the department's child-exploitation unit.
Dallas Catholic diocese officials confirmed that Mr. Marcos had been arrested but said they could not
comment on specifics.
Mr. Marcos was suspended from work after church officials learned of the allegations, said Bronson Havard,
a spokesman for the diocese.
The diocese does background checks on all workers, Mr. Havard said. Dallas County records showed that Mr. Marcos
had never been arrested, police and Mr. Havard said.
Investigators said several children told a day-care teacher that Mr. Marcos had behaved inappropriately, Sgt.
Fassett said.
"One of the children talked about inappropriate touching that may have occurred with other children in the day
care," Sgt. Fassett said.
The teacher told church and school supervisors, who called the girl's parents, Sgt. Fassett said.
The parents called police. The church reported the incident to officials at Child Protective Services,
as required by law.
The children reported the abuse Saturday but said some of the alleged incidents occurred in the summer, police said.
After several interviews, police identified two victims and filed charges.
Investigators met with church and diocese officials Thursday and asked them not to discuss the incident with the
parents or children at the school or church.
"We have a lot to do here, and we want to avoid contamination," Sgt. Fassett said. "We are going to do a concentrated,
methodical investigation, and we need to have one point of contact."
Police officials said the church and diocese are cooperating with investigators.
"We have asked church officials not to have conversations about this case with members of the parish,"
said Lt. Bill Walsh, who heads the child-abuse unit.
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Commentary from
The Doctor
Churches are among places of ultimate trust and, without any doubt, children are our most precious gifts.
That the words "bring your children unto me" should be so vilified that we become scared of places of ultimate
sanctuary, creates a terrible irony. However, people are all judged the same when it comes to worship, and those
who work in places of worship are no less likely to possess character flaws than those who work in places of
any other form of business. By the same token, is there any less need to be aware of behavioral tendencies?
In my opinion, there is a much greater need for religious institutions to screen their "employees" than almost
any other entity to which we look for authority and credibility. What a wonderful reassurance it would be to truly
know a person's motivations. What a sad thing it is that such a thing is possible and yet so few steps are taken
to act on the opportunity.
In the interests of securing the safety of our children, MindData is prepared to offer all properly accredited not-for-profit
institutions advantaged pricing and express administration of the MindData Attitude Indexes. If you are such an
institution, or a child you know attends a not-for-profit care center, please bring this opportunity to the attention
of someone who is sensitive to the real responsibilities of higher authority.
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Served in the U.S. Air Force as a jet fighter pilot, David Pearson is a noted behavioral scientist. David Pearson was a contributing author of the EEOC's Uniform
Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures and also contributed to the Tower Amendment to Title VII.12. As a nationally
recognized authority on employment practices and behavioral tendency profiling, Dr. Pearson has been quoted in publications
from Newsweek to The Wall Street Journal.
Dr. Pearson has been retained as an expert witness for the successful defense of major companies including Adolph Coors,
Frontier Airlines, the City and County of Denver, Detroit Edison, and Martin Marietta. David Pearson has earned a Master of
Science and a Doctorate in Psychology. He has also received extensive legal training, and has considerable experience in statistics
and research methodology. Today, Dr. Pearson continues to make valuable contributions to MindData's business -- including
development of all new MindData products and contribution of frequent articles and insights to the MindData web site.
The opinions expressed in articles by this author do not necessarily represent
the opinions of MindData. These articles are provided as a means of informing
you of current events and opinions that impact employers and the workplace.
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