Anaheim : Probation Officer Jailed on Molestation Charges

An Orange County probation officer has been charged with three counts of felony child molestation and 17 misdemeanor charges, ranging from child annoyance to showing minors obscene material, authorities said Friday.

They said the crimes came to light in the course of the San Bernardino County sheriff’s investigation of the disappearance three months ago of Laura Bradbury, the Huntington Beach 3-year-old who was abducted from her family’s campsite in Joshua Tree National Monument.

Thomas Wilcox Barnes, 48, of Anaheim, is being held in Orange County Jail on the charges but has been ruled out as a suspect in the Bradbury abduction, authorities said.

San Bernardino sheriff’s Capt. Gene Bowlin said that Barnes last Friday was discounted as a suspect in the abduction, in part because he passed a lie-detector test.

Bowlin said investigators searched Barnes’ van, found nothing to link him to the abduction.

San Bernardino investigators said, however, that during the investigation, they found Barnes in his apartment alone with a 12-year-old boy, who was later interviewed by police. The boy’s statements were used to support a warrant to search Barnes’ apartment, where sexually explicit magazines, films and “toys” were found.

Anaheim police investigators allege that Barnes allowed four children to engage in sexual activity while he watched them through an air vent of an adjoining room in his apartment. They arrested the probation officer of 18 years on New Year’s Eve, on a warrant charging him with three counts of molestation and misdemeanor counts of child annoyance, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and 12 counts of showing obscene material to minors.

The misdemeanor charges allege that Barnes, who lives alone, showed at least nine children between the ages of 7 and 16 sexually explicit magazines, books and films, Anaheim police Sgt. Jim Brantley said.

He said the felony counts stem from incidents that allegedly involved a 7-year-old Santa Ana girl, her 10-year-old brother and two Anaheim brothers, 7 and 12. Because he did not touch the children, Brantley said, Barnes is charged with aiding and abetting in the molestation.

According to county Chief Deputy Probation Officer Michael Schumacher, the alleged victims were not children Barnes had met through his job. The crimes with which he is charged allegedly occurred during a nine-month absence from his job.

Barnes is being held on $25,000 bail, Anaheim police Lt. Jack Flanagan said. He is to be arraigned on the charges Monday in North Orange County Municipal Court.