Officials Call Girl’s Slaying a Tragic Example of Neglect

It can happen at the movies, the mall, an amusement park, the beach. Children left unsupervised by parents, even in what may appear to be a safe, protected environment, can quickly become easy targets for abuse, officials say.

“Predators are looking for a green-light situation,” said Santa Ana Police Sgt. Chuck Johnson, a supervisor in the child abuse/sexual assault unit. “They know they have a better chance of reaching their prey when the parents are off guard.”

The murder Sunday of a 7-year-old girl whose father had left her with her 14-year-old brother while he gambled in a Nevada casino is a tragic example of what can happen, child abuse experts said. The father, LeRoy Iverson of Los Angeles, told police he assumed his daughter Sherrice would be safe playing in the Primadonna Casino’s arcade for several hours. The girl was found dead about 5 a.m. in the women’s restroom, after a four-hour separation from her father. Police said she had been raped and strangled.

“It is so incredibly tragic when a parent doesn’t make it their business to know if their child is safe or not,” said Barbara Oliver, executive director of the county’s Child Abuse Prevention Council. “It’s always, always a grave mistake to assume your child is safe.”

Still, many do. In Orange County so far this year, 350 reports of children left unsupervised have been received by the Child Abuse Registry, an Orange-based agency which sends social workers and police to investigate the complaints. The numbers represent an increase from the 301 cases reported during the same period in 1996, a year with more than 1,000 such complaints in all.

Most of the reports relate to children who are abandoned by parents who leave them with friends or relatives and never return, said Carol Mitchell, a registry manager. But the number of calls involving “inadequate supervision” is increasing, she said.

Those reports range from 5-year-olds wandering alone in neighborhoods to “latch-key” youths left alone or made to supervise younger siblings every day after school.

“Although these parents may not regard themselves as child abusers, leaving young children alone constitutes general neglect,” according to the state’s Child Abuse Prevention Handbook. Lawmakers have in the past specified that no children under the age of 14 should left alone. But police and social workers say they use discretion by evaluating the circumstances of each case, including the maturity of the child, the location of the incident and the time of day.

Criminal charges are rarely brought against parents whose unsupervised children become victims of abuse, primarily because it’s difficult to prove they could reasonably assume the child would be threatened, said Chuck Middleton, an Orange County deputy district attorney in charge of sexual assault cases.

“If something unforeseen happens to the child while the parent leaves the child alone, it may not be criminal behavior,” Middleton said. “Criminal conduct and moral conduct are whole different ball games.”

Lifeguards, librarians and amusement park officials say they deal with thousands of unsupervised or lost children each year.

“On busy weekends, we have lots of lost kids, even if the adults are being attentive,” said Huntington City Beach Marine Lt. Steve Davidson. “Considering how many get lost we have been very fortunate,” he said.

Malls, too, with brightly lit food courts, arcades and toy stores, may seem like harmless places to leave children. But officials say child predators often are attracted to crowded places, where they can study the surroundings without being noticed.

“We’ve had predators hang around public restrooms just waiting for the right moment,” Johnson said. “In my experience, a parent who lets any child go to the bathroom alone is nuts.”

Jonathan Alpert, general manager of Laguna Hills Mall, said parents are not allowed to “drop off children here and let them roam around.” Unattended children may be questioned by security officers, who will call their parents if they are truant, Alpert said.

But there is only so much mall employees can do, he said. Most often, they find children left in the arcade by parents who are shopping and who have arranged to meet their kids later, he said.

Johnson, who has investigated cases of child abuse and neglect for the past 10 years, said he still is surprised by the poor judgment of some parents. Johnson said he has wallowed in frustration more than once over mothers who don’t know the last name or address of the baby sitter they leave their children with every day.

“The only way these parents can find the house is if they drive to it,” Johnson said. “It absolutely sickening to me.”

Neglect knows no economic boundaries, said Kevin Meehan, director of Orange County Youth and Family Services. Children often wait unsupervised for parents to pick them up from school events or sports practice, he said. Using libraries as a “surrogate baby sitter” is another common occurrence, he said.

“These are not children in poverty circumstances,” Meehan said. “A lot of it is selfishness, I’m afraid, and the rest is people being naive or oblivious to the dangers that exist out there.”

* TRAGIC COST OF NEGLECT: Officials say many O.C. parents leave children in peril in malls and other public places. A27