UPDATED: Child molested near East Elementary

I wonder if there is any more word on this? I keep checking and nothing more has come out. Did MHPD share more information and if so what was it? I was unable to find anything anywhere. I am concerned not because I have children but because there are childern in my area and I want to make sure they are safe.

Yes, RUMORS are already flying. Hopefully if there is any actual information regarding this article that can be told, it will soon be in print, so the rumor mill can slow down.

I hope that some information comes out of the MHPD soon. How can they expect citizens to report a possible child predator with the little information they have provided? I guess I will just report any strange car or person in my area. I know how difficult a task it could be to get accurate information from a small child. If we all pool our efforts, we might just able to get this dispectable being off the streets.

Letters were sent home with the school children on Friday notifying parents that they had been spoken to by the police department about "stranger danger". However, it would have been nice to know that this was not just a routine presentation by the police and that it was in response to an incident. It equips parents with knowledge that adds a little more 'urgency' and emphasis than our normal efforts to address the issue with our children. Information is power.

Having children that go to east we find this very disturbing and the fact that parents with students not only at East, but all of the schools should have been notified about this incident on Thursday. This is a poor effort made on part of the Mountain Home School District as well as the Mountain Home Police Department. Parents of all students in the Mountain Home School District should have been notified promptly of the situation. In addition if parents were notified there are many of them that not only drop their kids off at school, but are also there to pick up their children after school and that would have provided that many more alert adults that could have possibly aided in the capture of this sick predator if he is still in the area. I encourage all of the parents to raise questions about why we didn't receive information on this sooner! I personally find that the Mountain Home School District as well as the Mountain Home Police Department failed to do their part in notifying us the parents.

I'm so glad the little girl told her parents immediately! (Different from a sad situation I knew of years ago in another state.) In this Mountain Home case, the investigation was able get underway as soon as possible, with a better chance of solution.

I'm so impatient, wanting to know when this person is arrested and prosecuted.

My prayers go out to this innocent child and his/her family.

Here is a website that shows both the residences and workplaces of registered sex offenders:

www.familywatchdog.us

First, I pray the little girl and her family. Secondly in this day and age I do not understand why this was not made public immediately. Just think, parents were allowing ther children to walk to an from school without a single worry of there childs well being. It could have happened to another child on Thursday and on Friday. I realize you have to make sure it happened, but as Boise does it, it gets on the news and through the school districts ASAP so people can watch and they can take there children to and from school. If it happens to be false it is reported as so, but at least we as parents protected our children and gave them proper guidence on how to handle things, instead of having a paper sent home thinking they only went trough a drill. Plus why was this 6 year old able to be approached by someone else than her normal pick up? As I remember the kids in that age group stay together until they have been picked up and the child tells the teacher who that person is before the teacher lets them go. They have done it that way for as long as I can remember. The public should've known ASAP.

Living in a small town the part that concerns me is that this person may not be a stranger. This person is most likely a person we all know. I have a child that also goes to East. I agree that the parents should have been notified and not just East Elementry parents but all parents in the Mountain Home School District. Knowlege is power and I know living in this small town I have gotten comfortable. Sometimes it takes something like this to wake us all up and speak to our children about the evils in society, even in our safe small town> My prayers go out to this child and her family

Quite frankly, this entire situation scares the hell out of me...I have two small children in the school district, and this is just another of the problems that are not dealt with appropriately and/or timely. I have to agree with the first comments...it seems to me that the "powers that be" in Mountain Home need to do a MUCH BETTER job of protecting our kids...is there a legitimate reason that ALL parents were not advised of this situation immediately after it occurred? We shouldn't be finding out about an incident like this DAYS later, and with many finding out through word of mouth!!!

We all know there are many children that walk to school. It seems that many have the opinion that "it won't happen here", however, it IS happening here, and we need to make sure that city leaders, school officials and the MHPD/Sheriff's Dept. are doing all they can within their power to keep our streets safe! I find it inexcusable that we are having difficulty getting any information regaring who/what/when/where/why, etc.

Channel 7 in Boise reports the suspect is:

--"Older" White Male (50's+?).

--5'9"

--Short, Dark Hair.

That's all, wish I had more, or a sketch; but that's it.

It saddens, sickens, and angers me, (among many other emotions), that there are monsters disguised as human beings out there who get pleasure from hurting and molesting children. Also that it happened here, in MY town. Mountain Home is a WONDERFUL town and this is why I came back to raise my family here. I think that maybe we need to re-implement the stranger safe house and neighborhood watch. My prayers go out to the victims and that the obviously disturbed individual who commited this crime be cought and punished to the fullest extent and even that won't be enough.

I feel my child has been left more vulnerable by the MHPD for not getting this out sooner. As a parent I could have increased my own vigilance over my child immediately. It is primarily my responsibility to watch over my child and I rely on local officials to provide critical public safety information to me. This is even more critical since a suspect has not been identified or apprehended. We can not do our part if we are kept in the dark.

This story breaks my heart and really instills fear as a mother of 2 small boys. PLEASE parents talk to your kids. I was sure my little boy would never leave with a stranger. To my shock he did because this man (who happened to be a concerned parent) had found our dog on the school yard. The man helped my child across the street. (assuming he was a walker) My little boy rode the bus to daycare. He missed his bus and I got a call from the daycare that he never got off. Found him at home watching cartoons! What could have happened is terrifying. I know there are alot of children, but we trust the school with our precious babies! I understand it is our responsibility but it is also the schools! These teachers have our kids all day, what's 10 more min to make sure they go where they're supposed to? Do not assume anything. Did I mention this was on Stranger Danger Day?

Elmore County currently has thirty-six registered sex offenders. Of these, twenty-eight reside within the 83647 Zip Code.

The information is all public record and available at http://www.isp.state.id.us/ to any citizen that chooses to research it.

As for Julie Bunderson's comment to the news:

"Acting Police Chief Julie Bunderson said the department needed time to investigate and confirm the incident before releasing any information, noting the concern raised recently in Boise over an eventually unsubstantiated allegation of a child abduction ".

I would rather the police dept.go ahead and err on the side of the child to protect other children, than to wait and take the chance of another child being molested. And then deal with a false report later if need be.

While I understand that concern that MHPD had over a false report being made, I would have rather the town gone through that rather than have such a large laspe in informing the community. I know of many citizens, both with and without childern, that are very upset over the long delay and feel like I do. The person that did this could have been at the school the very next day and no one would have been the wiser. Once again, I understand the delay but in a case like this, I say put us through the worry until it is proved/disproved.

I would like to know if, in the light of the outrage at the lack of information being passed on to parents and the community in a timely manner, has the MHPD changed their policy to now IMMEDIATELY report incidents of this nature to the public. As many have already expressed, so WHAT if it turns out to be a false claim! Better to be a false claim and people get unduly upset and vigilant than to be an accurate claim and someone else gets violated while the claim is being 'checked out'.

Check out channel 2 news tonight. My friend was on there complaining about her 7 year old walking home last year without permission. She approached the principal last year and was basically informed "stuff like this doesnt happen in Mountain Home". I know she's outraged, as are others we've spoken to. There needs to be a meeting or something held so the school/MHPD understand the frustration of children being allowed to walk alone after this incident because parents didnt know till 2 days later!!!

Also look at KTVB. Kuna had a child enticement incident TODAY (9/25/07) and it is on there. To use a quote from KBCI " "Police asked us to wait until they could confirm everything, so we were giving correct information," says superintendent Tim McMurtrey. The district says hindsight is always 20/20. It is believed the girl was abducted while waiting on school property, but school officials say that has not been confirmed. " I guess the flow of information is far different on this county. Kuna got the word out quickly and if it turns out to be false then so be it. Take notice school district and MHPD, learn from this incident.

Obviously, the Police Dept. has a certain amount of disdain for the "masses", here in Mountain Home. It's more important to them that they protect their image by not reporting this incident immediately, and taking a couple of days verifying the story of a six-year old. How wonder how many police officers were afforded the information so they could warn their children.

I am new in town and was already uncomfortable with how lax security is for the schools. Every school I know of has always had the teachers walk the kids out and make sure the children are handed to the adult supposed to pick them up. If the teacher didn't know the person, they were asked to show ID and verified that they are allowed to pick them up on the emergency contact info. Sure it takes some time and effort, but the day we live in it is a must to minimize the horrible things that are done to children.

I see a lot of people commenting about the way the police handled this situation. I don't see anyone wondering why a six year old girl was left waiting, along, for up to an hour and 15 minutes. Why or how would a child this age be expected to wait this long for a parent? I understand that parents have to work, it seems like someone should have picked the child up sooner. Six years old is very young to be expected to wait and not allow any distractions. In my own opinion, different arrangements need to be made in situations where very young children are to be left alone this way.

The police have guidelines they need to follow to keep us all safe, I think they did what they needed to do. I also think that parents educating their children continuously about not going with strangers is extremely important. As parents, we have the bigger obligation to keep our children safe since it all begins at home, from birth.

At six years old, this child could have been given a code word and told not to go with anyone who didn't know it. A child of six can understand that they are also not to give the code word to anyone.

A six year old child waiting this long alone, seems like a situation that needs to be readjusted. Maybe hire a teenaged student to get this child home safely and the parent can meet them there. It would certainly be worth the cost to know that a child is safe.

Regarding "Itsjustmeagain" How do you know the parents left this child for over an hour? I don't believe this has been stated anywhere. Is this rumor or fact?

I do agree with you though - If she was left that long - then the parents are very irresponsible. SOMEONE should have been able to pick the little girl up.

Yes, the parents have been through pure unbearable things right now and I do feel for the family. I can't imagine having to go through this.

But, along with this, there should also have been a teacher that called this childs parents when they didn't show up to pick her up.

Anyway - I am angry about other parents not being notified right away. The situation was not handled as well as it should have been at all by MHPD.

Like I said before - "err on the side of the child, and if the report is false - then deal with it appropriatly."

What I'm curious about is why a 6-year-old was waiting, unsupervised, for even a minute. Do they push them out and lock the school doors at some point? Is there a teacher or school employee designated to watch these kids and make sure they're picked up? If not, why not?

This is disturbing. Mtn. Home is supposed to be a safe place. I grew up here not having a worry in the world and that is why I wanted to raise my kids here.

One of the main reasons I'm glad I'm a stay at home mom is that I walk my son to school everyday and wait until I see him go inside. When I go to pick him up I am there 15 minutes early and his teacher will not even let him go unless my son and his teacher see me or my husband. This helps ensure my son is safe and gives me peace of mind.

In reference to the comments made to me by midea. I was using the article as a time reference when it said the incident occurred between 3:pm and 4:15 pm, that is an hour and a half of wait time. You only need to read the second paragraph of the article to see the time they listed.

I can't say that I am a fan of all goings on by the Mountain Home Police Department, having live here all of my life, I have seen more than a few questionable things happen. I can say that for the most part, they do all they can do and they have policies they have to follow.

If we, the public, do not like the policies, we can take steps to try to change them. What steps are you and the others here taking to change the way this was handled? Have you written letters, other than here? Have you spoken to the appropriate people to start making changes? I don't say this to antogonize, I just think that coming to a safe place, like the paper under an anonymous name, isn't the proper way to start the changes.

I hope that our police have learned something from this, we'll see. In the mean time, those that want change, have to fight for it.

I want to start by saying I am very happy that the little girl made it home to her parents and unhappy that the school system failed to keep her safe from danger.

I have a student in the East Elementary school and was NOT notified IMMEDIATELY that abduction and molestation had taken place involving a 6-year old girl. As a parent, I believe that the safety of ALL children is in question when the MHPD and the school system deny the notification to parents.

I also believe the public should have been notified immediately of any dangers regarding the children of the ENTIRE school district and surrounding districts.

Where is the supervision of students while they are waiting for their parents to pick them up? Why is it made possible for someone can walk up and take a student from school property? Why was this 6-year old child left alone? THIS IS TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY UNEXCEPTABLE!!!!!

I take pride in knowing where my children are and who they are with at all times. I do NOT however appreciate NOT being told there is a potential danger of someone being able to take my child from the school property.

I also agree that supervisors, teachers or someone employed by the school district be with the students until they are ALL picked up by a parent or guardian and students should NEVER BE LEFT ALONE to fend for themselves.

I think the parents complaining that MH police should have warned them earlier about the incident are missing the point. IT IS A PARENT'S RESPONSIBILITY TO KEEP HIS/HER CHILD SAFE AFTER SCHOOL HAS BEEN DISMISSED. If and when this miscreant is caught there will be others just like him loose on our streets. We can never assume that it is safe for our children to wander around outside a school by themselves. Yes, MHSD could do a better job of keeping track of students when they are dismissed but as all of us parents should know: Idaho spends the bare minimum on schools and extra help simply isn't available. I am curious about how many complaining parents have volunteered to help at thier child's school... how many of you have considered providing supervision during recess or before and after school?? All four elementary schools welcome, encourage and appreciate parent involvement. That local woman on News2 last night who (through smiles for the camera) complained that her child was in danger is a much greater danger to her child than anyone in the district or on the PD force; she is expecting other people to keep her child safe after 3PM. That is simply unrealistic. That's her job. IT IS EVERY PARENT'S JOB TO ACCOUNT FOR THEIR CHILD AFTER 3PM!

We are used to hearing about the activity of the scum-of-the-earth in other places, but it is truly sad that we now must deal with this type of thing in our own community. I hope that the police are able to identify and catch this criminal. My thoughts and prayers go out to this young girl and her family.

That being said, I hope that before laying the blame at the school district's feet we can stop and consider what that means. Schools do not have the staff to account for every child after school hours. It is highly unrealistic to expect the limited, available staff to know each child's parent by sight, much less be able to ensure each child connects with the right person in the chaos which follows the release of school.

Understand that with their resources, the only effective way for the SCHOOL DISTRICT to ensure that each child gets picked up by the proper person after school is to take all of the students to a central location (say, the school gym) and require parents or their previously-designated representatives to "check-out" the children in-person (after showing proof of identity). While this would work and ensure the safety of all children, MOST PARENTS DO NOT WANT TO DO THIS. We have grown accustomed to the convenience of having our children meet us out front, walk to our place of employment, walk to babysitters/daycare, etc. We appreciate not having to interrupt our work or personal schedules to accommodate our children. We do not want to drive to the school, find a place to park, walk inside, and "check-out" our children. We don't even want to get out of our cars. That takes too long. We have risked an outside chance at unsafe conditions for our own daily convenience.

If parents want to ask the school district to be responsible for their children after school hours, perhaps they should initiate and pass their own school bond specifically for those purposes. Barring that, to solve the issue we must be willing to trade back our convenience for the safety of our children. Do not misunderstand, parents were NOT to blame for this crime--especially not the parents of this poor young girl. It is frustrating that the real criminal has not been found, but we must be careful not to blame the wrong party in our desire to see justice served.

Also, for those who may not be aware, teachers are not roaming around outside after-school because they have other job responsibilities. After school hours they are grading work, preparing lessons, and, often, meeting with parents. Please find out about these things before stating that teachers should be outside watching our children after-school. To echo a previous comment, the best way to be informed about what the schools are and are not capable of is to become involved with your child's school yourself. It is your child's safety and your child's education. It is always a good idea to some responsibility and ownership in it.

I will have to agree with Bruce Gibson on this one. why was this child waiting unnoticed for over an hour?!!

Tip for parents,

Give your child a password, and make sure they tell it to no one but the people who are allowed to pick up your child!!

I know that children are easily fooled, but if you explain the seriousness and dangers to them it just may prevent something terrible like this.

I will have to agree with Bruce Gibson on this one. why was this child waiting unnoticed for over an hour?!!

Tip for parents,

Give your child a password, and make sure they tell it to no one but the people who are allowed to pick up your child!!

I know that children are easily fooled, but if you explain the seriousness and dangers to them it just may prevent something terrible like this.

Some are saying that it is unrealistic to think that we should have the time and staff to make sure each child is with whoever they are supposed to be with. I disagree. If every other school district I have been in and around can do it, so can we.

I, for one, do not lay much blame on the staff at the school. Having been a volunteer in the past, I know how difficult it can be to try and track children all running in different directions at the end of the day. When I first started making my comments, I was very upset at the extended time from the discovery of the incident till the public was informed. If the school did send a letter home on Friday, it did not reach the dozen or so parents I talked to that have children that go to East. The MHPD wanted to WAIT to verify if anything had occurred. I say that there should be no waiting for confirmation on this type of incident. Get the word out quickly and if it is disproved then get the word out again. If the child had not returned, how long would both the MHPD and school district waited to start an Amber Alert? Our community seems to be the only one that has this wait-and-see policy when it comes to childrens safety and I say it is not acceptable.

I too am outraged that our local police deptartment did not immediately release information. I picked my son up from East Elem. on the day of this incident and the two following days, however by Sunday night when I heard about the abduction on the news I was unable to recall whether I might have seen anything. I can't help but wonder if I have heard about this on Wednesday night (when it happened) if I would have remembered seeing anything unusual. I also feel our school district should have used common sense and ignored the police request to keep the matter quiet and should have notified parents immediately. I feel our children were put at unnecessary risk on Thursday and Friday last week when they continued to walk home or to a parents work without the benefit of knowing this molestation had occured. I know for a fact that the teachers at East knew what happened and were told to keep it quiet while the police investigated. Of course they took the opportunity to talk to their own children about stranger danger and being extra cautious while those of us who do not work at East were kept in the dark. The entire matter is disgraceful and I have no confidence in our local police department. However, I do ask everyone to withhold any judgement towards the little girl's parents. We don't know enough to vilify them for not keeping her safe and I am sure they are being hard enough on themselves. My prayers are with both the parents and child at this horrible time.

My child is a student at East and I have to say I am disgusted and quite frankly scared for not only the safety of my child but the safety of all the kids that are there. I am actually an recent import from Pocatello and I guess being from Pocatello I have a differrent view on things because they dont mess around.

The wait and see attitude is merely one of the things that scares the hell out of me. You have a window of 24 hours to find a child alive if a child disappears, therefor every minute of that time is valuable and can mean life and death to a child. Okay so for starters I think the district, the school and the police department did a real poo poo here. Then compounded it by minimizing the event.

The minimization I am refreeing to is We as the parents all received a note from the school 3 days after this incident and I am looking at the letter right now and NOWHERE in it does it say a child was molested. All it says is a child was taken from the school. The police are questioning and that is it. Our children were taken into an assembly or spoken to in class rooms by a police officer about stranger danger which by the by should also be on the parents and I think that is a great step but the parents should of been notified exactly what had happened and not been sent some minimized note.

I found out about the molest from the paper. That is completely not acceptable. I myself have had many many discussions with my child from the time he was 3 about stranger. He does not scream help if someone grabs him he screams FIRE. People listen then.

Now everyday I pick my child up and drop him off as do many parents and I cant help but wonder while I am now seeing all these cries of outrage how come a committee or group of parents have not formed to start some type of patrol group? There are plenty of parents that pick up there kids everyday. I know I have been there.

We as parents that have been picking up and dropping off our kids can attest there is some crazy stuff that goes on there and we are there and we as the parents can effect change and protect our children better then clearly the schools can and/or are able and willing to.

Some examples of behavior I have seen is the kids from Hacker pushing the kids from East down, people loitering around not picking up kids just standing there watching, people down at East to pick up kids from Hacker. There is a gal that picks up a kid and is there with a bowie knife strapped to waist off of her belt. Am I the only one that finds this a bit disturbing???? The speeding idiots that blaze through there. I sat there watched a cop sitting there and he let 8 speeders fly through there. He was more concerned with staring at me with out of town plates then he was with the speeders and I was parked.

So I think in general instead of all the gripping we as the parents need to form a committee full of volunteers, get some training and patrol the schools ourselves. If anyone thinks this is a great idea please contact me and we can try and figure out how to do this.

In reference to Sinn. I would like to ask you, when you saw this police officer allowing eight speeders to go by, did you call it to the attention of his/her supervisor at all? Did you question the officer as to why he/she was watching you? I certainly would have done just that.

Do you exit your vehicle and let the police or others know about the children who are being pushed down by the Hacker students? Do you let anyone know about the girl with the knife hanging off of her belt?

I think it's a great idea to get a group of parents together to patrol that area and put a stop to all of the problems you are seeing. Time will tell us how many people want a solution and how many people just want to complain under an anonymouse name and not try to do anything to change the problems. Please be sure to let us know how many parents contact you and are willing to give up some free time to keep the children safe.

"In reference to Sinn. I would like to ask you, when you saw this police officer allowing eight speeders to go by, did you call it to the attention of his/her supervisor at all? Did you question the officer as to why he/she was watching you? I certainly would have done just that.

Do you exit your vehicle and let the police or others know about the children who are being pushed down by the Hacker students? Do you let anyone know about the girl with the knife hanging off of her belt?

I think it's a great idea to get a group of parents together to patrol that area and put a stop to all of the problems you are seeing. Time will tell us how many people want a solution and how many people just want to complain under an anonymouse name and not try to do anything to change the problems. Please be sure to let us know how many parents contact you and are willing to give up some free time to keep the children safe.

-- Posted by ItsJustMeAgain on Fri, Sep 28, 2007, at 11:05 PM "

Hi Its just me,

Yes I actually did call the police dept. Getting confrontational with an on duty officer is not real high on my to do list. At least not today so I did the next best thing and called the dept and spoke to someone and they said they would do something. I have yet to see that although I am seeing an increase in Citizen on patrol activity there.

In re to the kids shoving each other, I am not in a position of authority to say anything to these children. I am not a teacher or administrator there. So what can I say and let me pose this to you I say something to these kids and then I get the police all over me and ****** off parents for approaching their kid. I would not blame them for that had someone walked up to my kid and said something to them and it was a stranger as I would be to them Yeah buddy it would hit the fan not only at the person that did it but the school as well.

As to the knife, are you insane I am not gonna say anything to someone packing a huge knife on their hip. I have a brass set but I am not stupid. This gal that had the knife walked in front of school staff with it and even said hello to them without a care in the world. The staff did not seem to even blink an eye at it. I know it was staff because I have spoke to these two staff members before and have seen their laminate cards. So just who am I going to tattle too?

As to the group so far nobody has contacted me. I have to admit it is disheartening because I see many great suggestions, cries of outrage and demands for answers and solutions from other parents and people in the community yet nobody is willing to do something.

I personally am willing to do whatever to protect my child even if it makes my life a little harder. Here is reality our kids are OUR responsibility and esp there safety is our responsibility esp after 3 pm not the schools and/or the MHPD esp when it has been shown that they are incapable of doing it and they can not be everywhere at once. Then when something bad does happens a code you of you wont tell we wont tell gets applied and/or it is shoved under the table and minimized by the powers that be.

Then with the new breaking facts that the one accused of this was in fact a 17 year old child themselves.

C'mon people does a child have to be hurt worse or killed before we all stop sitting here gripping about it and do something about it?

If anyone is interested in a getting a parents patrol started contact me at Parentspatrol@yahoo.com I will check this once a day.

Why would it have to confrontational? You could simply have asked why they were checking you out, in your opinion, because of your out of state license plate. You do realize this is an Air Force Base town and the police are used to seeing out of state plates?

If a bully is picking on children, I would have no problem walking right up to them and pointing out that their bullying is not acceptable. Worry about a parent who would get on me about stopping their bully teenager from picking on a child? No way! I would be thinking more about the parent who was going to be happy that someone stopped their child from being bullied.I doubt the police would get all over you for telling a bully that he needs to leave little children alone.

You think a teenager carrying a knife who is questioned about it is gonna pull it out of her belt and stab you with it? Why not just suggest to her that it's not sending a very good message to smaller children around the school? You seem to think the only way to do things is in a confrontational way, that's just not true.

I am not surprised that you have not heard from any parents about your group. It's a good idea though and I hope you do get some support.