Jose Rodriguez, ex-Westbury child care center worker, charged with molesting boy at facility, police say
The suspect was arrested on Monday. Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
Nassau County police arrested a former Westbury child care facility worker on Monday for allegedly molesting a boy between the years of 2016 and 2020, according to the department.
Glen Cove resident Jose Rodriguez, 49, was employed at the unidentified child care center when the abuse took place.
He's accused of inappropriately touching a 10-year-old boy at the facility, according to a news release from the police department. Police said the abuse began in April 2016 and continued until the victim was 13, in March 2020.
The teenager reported Rodriguez to police on Monday after he showed up at a Dunkin' coffee shop where the alleged victim now works. A department spokesman said that seeing the suspect triggered memories, prompting the alleged victim to report Rodriguez.
Nassau police arrested Rodriguez in Glen Cove on Monday "without incident," the news release said.
He's charged with endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, as well as course of sexual conduct against a child in the first degree. The latter is a felony that applies when an adult sexually abuses a child under the age of 13 multiple times during a period of more than three months.
Rodriguez was arraigned in First District Court in Hempstead on Tuesday. Judge Lisa LoCurto set Rodriguez's bond at between $200,000 and $600,000, depending on how it's paid.
The judge also ordered Rodriguez to surrender his passport and issued an order for him to stay away from the victim, according to a Nassau County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman.
Rodriguez is represented by Legal Aid, who did not comment.
He is due back in court on August 28.
The Nassau police department, in the news release, asks that anyone who "feels they may have been a victim of the individual to please contact Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS or the Special Victims Squad at 516-573-4022."
Sam Kmack covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California and previously worked as a city watchdog reporter in the Phoenix metro area, as well as an investigative journalist at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.
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