Local News in Brief : 2 Infants at Home Reportedly Molested

Medical examinations have uncovered evidence of sexual molestation of two more infants who were cared for at the unlicensed Lomita day-care home where a 16-month-old girl was allegedly molested and strangled to death last month, a sheriff’s spokesman said Thursday.

Lt. Gil Leslie said private physicians have examined five of about 12 children recently in the care of Robert and Linda Zieger, owners of the home just north of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and found that two children under the age of 2 had been sexually molested.

There is no evidence to connect the Ziegers or anyone else to the alleged molestation of the two infants, Leslie said.

The Ziegers and their 19-year-old daughter, Laura, were arrested on suspicion of child endangerment shortly after the death Nov. 14 of 16-month-old Michele Heasley and are free on bail pending arraignment Dec. 19. No one has been charged with the murder of the infant, who authorities said had been sexually assaulted and strangled at the Zieger home.

In the wake of the child’s death and the medical evidence of molestations, detectives from the Sheriff’s Department child abuse unit are recommending physical examinations for other children cared for at the Zieger home, Leslie said. Most parents have agreed to have their children examined, he said.