ZIONSVILLE, Ind. — Investigators in Boone County are trying to figure out how a convicted sex offender was allowed to work as a contractor at a day care.
David Esquivel was stopped early Wednesday morning by Zionsville police due to “suspicious behavior” as he was exiting the Zionsville Presbyterian Church parking lot.
Esquivel informed police that he was a contractor working at “Noah’s Ark,” the church’s day care. When officers ran his information, it was revealed that he is a convicted sex offender. Esquivel was then arrested for unlawful entry into a school by a sexually violent predator.
“I don’t think this should have happened. He should’ve been prohibited by his employer from being able to work at the day care facility,” Boone County Prosecutor Todd Meyer said.
Esquivel has previous convictions for child molesting and failure to register as a sex offender.
Meyer says Esquivel currently resides in Allen County where his sex offender registration is current. However, Indiana law says Esquivel should have notified Boone and Allen County officials that he was working in a different county than the one he resides in.
“Allen County was not aware of the fact that he was working in Boone County at the time, and of course Boone County, we weren’t aware that he was working here either,” Meyer said
Jerry Deck, Senior Pastor at Zionsville Presbyterian Church says church leader shop was unaware of Esquivel’s sex offender status. In a statement sent to FOX59 that said:
“Let me be clear, first and foremost, that we take very seriously the safety of our children and we were highly concerned when we heard of the arrest of David Esquivel. Zionsville Presbyterian Church contracted with the Jack Laurie Group, the company with whom Esquivel worked, to paint and drywall part of our building. Wednesday afternoon, after we were notified of Esquivel’s arrest, we sent out a communication to Noah’s Ark parents notifying them of the situation. It should be noted that our policy is to have Noah’s Ark teachers with the children at all times and that at no point when Esquivel was present were children unsupervised.
Noah’s Ark requires a background check and a sex offender check on all employees. The practice of ZPC has been to verbally ensure that all companies hired would have background checks on their employees. In the future we will require a written confirmation from companies with whom ZPC contracts with to ensure that the employees that work on our property have had background checks.
In the last two years, Noah’s Ark has invested heavily in physical security and security monitoring. We continue to be committed to the safety of all children whose parents trust us with their care.”
FOX59 reached out to the Jack Laurie Group for comment on whether anyone knew of Esquivel’s sex offender status. As of late Friday afternoon, our messages have not been returned.
Esquivel is charged with unlawful employment near children by a sexual predator.
The Boone County Prosecutor’s Office is also seeking an enhancement of habitual offender status due to Esquivel already being a two time convicted felon.
He is currently being held without bond in the Boone County Jail.
