Politics & Government

Outside Counsel To Analyze City's Mandated Reporting

Some Walnut Creek employees have been interviewed by police about whether they were aware of child sexual abuse allegations against former Lesher Center actor/teacher.

The city of Walnut Creek has hired outside legal counsel to do an internal investigation of whether city employees failed to report suspected child sex abuse by a former employee and analyze the city's policies on mandated reporting.

At issue is whether city employees knew of allegations against Jason Pedroza of San Bruno, a 27-year-old former part-time actor and teacher for the city and the Lesher Center for the Arts. Pedroza was arrested last month on suspicion of child molestation and sexual battery.

Last week, Walnut Creek police forwarded criminal investigation reports on the Pedroza case to the Contra Costa District Attorney's Office, the Contra Costa Times reported. Police interviewed some city employees about their possible failure to report abuse allegations about Pedroza, the Times reported. Nordhoff did not name the employees interviewed but said in a telephone interview that he is not one of them.

Stacey Sheston with the Sacramento firm Best, Best and Krieger is running the city's internal probe with "full authority from the city attorney to conduct the investigation as she deems appropriate," Nordhoff said. Best, Best and Krieger has experience in employment law and mandated reporting issues, the city manager said.

Nordhoff said he did not know how long the internal investigation would take nor what it would cost.

Beyond the investigation, Nordhoff said he planned to propose an ambitious city policy to require mandated reporting for all city employees and "go beyond the minimums required under state law" with appropriate upgrades in training.

"We want to send a signal that we take this very seriously," he said.


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