Child Services Investigator Charged With Sexual Abusing Teen He Was Suppose To Protect

Jean LaCroix (pictured), an investigator for Florida’s Department of Children and Families, has been accused of having sex with a 17-year-old he was suppose to be protecting from abuse, the Miami Herald reports^[1].

SEE ALSO: Go Girl! Serena Williams Advances To Wimbledon Quarterfinals^[2] 

He was arrested in New York City on Saturday after allegedly trying to flee to the Dominican Republic. LaCroix actually escaped federal agents’ surveillance and boarded a plane that landed on the Caribbean island. But U.S. authorities asked customs officials in the the Dominican Republic to refuse LaCroix entry. They did and he was immediately flown back to New York where he was arrested.

Prosecutors believed that LaCroix was headed to Haiti where he grew up. He has been charged with five counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, according to Miami-Dade Police.

SEE ALSO: Tragic! Missing 17-Month-Old Toddler Found Dead In Home^[3]

“If he had gotten to Haiti, we would never have seen him again,” a police official said.

WATCH NEWS REPORTS ON LACROIX’S CASE

Here are more details on the story:

According to the warrant obtained by The Miami Herald late Saturday, Miami-Dade police learned May 7 from a DCF investigator that a girl under agency supervision disclosed she had repeatedly had sex with LaCroix, who had been the investigator assigned to her child-abuse case.

Beginning on Oct.11, and lasting until child-welfare administrators moved his alleged victim to a different part of the county the next January, LaCroix allegedly met with the girl numerous times, the warrant says.

The teen told police she would call LaCroix from her cell phone to his, and they would arrange to meet near her school. From there, LaCroix would take the girl back to his home to have sex, the warrant says.

LaCroix’s state-issued cell phone, the warrant says, showed “considerable” phone activity between LaCroix and the girl. From Dec. 24 through Jan. 23 alone, the two spoke on the phone 72 times, the warrant says.

A review of phone records showed that, on at least five occasions, LaCroix and the foster child spoke on the phone either early in the morning before school or during school hours, when the girl had been absent from school without an excuse, the warrant says.

DCF administrators asked LaCroix to stop speaking to the girl, but he ignored their requests. On May 7, he was suspended with pay and his cell phone was taken. But LaCroix reportedly call the girl anyway and ask her to contact him from something other than her cell phone.

References

1. ^{^}the Miami Herald reports (www.miamiherald.com)
2. ^{^}Go Girl! Serena Williams Advances To Wimbledon Quarterfinals (newsone.com)
3. ^{^}Tragic! Missing 17-Month-Old Toddler Found Dead In Home (newsone.com)