More Molestation Charges Leveled at City Day-Care Unit : Children: Five youngsters have now accused two part-time workers at Echo Park Recreation Center of fondling them. A state investigation is continuing.

State investigators Tuesday postponed a decision on whether to revoke the license of a city-operated Echo Park day-care center after learning that two more children say they were molested by a worker at the facility.

The latest allegations, made by a sister and brother whose parents took them to Los Angeles police, bring to five the number of children who have accused two part-time workers at Echo Park Recreation Center of fondling them.

In addition, two other children have told police that one of the men urinated in their presence, a misdemeanor offense known as child annoyance.

One of the workers, Charles Chavez, 33, of Los Angeles, pleaded innocent last month to four felony counts of performing lewd acts with children and is being held on $20,000 bail. The second worker, Simon Bermudez, 37, also of Los Angeles, was jailed briefly but has not been formally charged.

The brother and sister, ages 5 and 6 respectively, told police last week that Chavez, a van driver for the facility, fondled their genitals and other parts of their bodies over their clothing on more than one occasion in recent months.

A police investigation showed that neither suspect had been fingerprinted for background checks before they were hired. Police contend that a check would have shown that Chavez had a criminal record for lewd behavior with a prostitute.

The disclosure touched off heated complaints from City Councilwoman Gloria Molina and parents of the children, who demanded that proper background checks be performed on employees who work with children. City officials then ordered the immediate fingerprinting of 2,000 part-time workers in the Recreation and Parks Department.

The head of the department said Tuesday that should the state impose stricter rules governing the operation of the city’s nine state-funded day-care centers, the facilities that serve low-income families could be shut down.

“Then we’ll be right back where we were two years ago,” General Manager Jim Hadaway said. “We’ll have low-cost day-care for families that can pay and none for families that can’t.”

The Echo Park center, which is licensed to care for 49 children, has remained open despite the ongoing investigation.

The new allegations by the brother and sister surfaced just as lawyers for the state Department of Social Services, which licenses the state-funded day-care centers, were poised to take administrative action against the facility.

Daniel Garcia, the agency’s legal council, had already decided to recommend some kind of administrative action--ranging from a fine or probation to emergency suspension of license--against the Echo Park center.

Garcia said his recommendation would have been based on the original allegations of molestation, the center’s failure to report them within 24 hours as required by law and such violations as the failure to fingerprint and do background checks, failure to segregate the children from visitors and failure to provide adequate toilet facilities.

The only bathroom inside the center, Garcia said, has been used by boys and girls and adult workers at the same time and is accessible to the public.

Garcia said he will wait until the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office reviews the new allegations before taking any action. By waiting, Garcia said, his agency stands a better chance of strengthening its administrative case by having a larger number of allegations.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Linda Reese said she expected police to present her with the latest allegations today.

Top Recreation and Parks officials said Tuesday that they were unaware of the latest allegations of molestation.

Hadaway, nevertheless, said his department has been working since last week to bring itself into compliance with state rules.

Hadaway contended, however, that the nine day-care centers are housed in facilities that were designed for recreational purposes and it is difficult to bring them up to state codes.