O.C. Day-Care Home Closed by Sex Abuse Claim

A licensed family day-care home has been temporarily closed as a result of allegations that the operator and her assistant sexually molested a child in their care and exhibited inappropriate sexual behavior in front of other children, state officials said Tuesday.

No criminal charges have been filed against Terri Borzoni, 37, and her assistant, Vicki Jimenez, 21. Both women vehemently denied that anything had occurred at Borzoni’s home on Lime Avenue to warrant closure of the business Monday by officials of the state Department of Social Services.

Meanwhile, Cypress police are investigating allegations of “criminal misconduct” at the day-care home after a complaint by a mother of one of the children, said Lt. Phillip Satterfield. He would not elaborate on the allegations.

Both Borzoni and Jimenez said the state’s charges were false and expressed outrage at the accusations.

“It’s totally untrue,” said Jimenez, who said she spent Tuesday alternately crying and vomiting whenever she thought of these “far-fetched allegations. . . . I’ve ranted and raved for years about child molesters. And I can’t believe this is happening to me.”

Jimenez claimed that the allegations arose from a disgruntled parent and complained that investigators never asked for her side of the story.

Investigators, however, said they needed to close the home because they believe children are in danger there based on a monthlong investigation that included interviews with parents and former clients and one unannounced visit to the home. They would not identify the parent who filed the complaint.

The department’s legal division in Sacramento has the final say on whether to issue a temporary suspension order, a move that typically leads to a permanent closure, said Mary C. Lefley, licensing program supervisor for the state Department of Social Services community care licensing division in Santa Ana. She said she believes there are enough facts in the case to support a pleading to revoke Borzoni’s license.

“We don’t take these steps lightly,” Lefley said. “We think there might be some kind of danger in the facility.”

Pat Baron, a legal analyst for the department in Sacramento, said Borzoni and Jimenez will have a chance to present their side if they request a licensing hearing before an administrative law judge within 30 days.

“We have to act,” she said. “If someone else is in potential danger, our interest is to protect their rights.”

Allegations, outlined in the temporary suspension order, state that Borzoni sexually molested an unnamed child “on multiple occasions,” that Jimenez also molested the child “with respondent’s participation and/or acquiescence” and that Borzoni behaved in a sexually inappropriate fashion with Jimenez in front of children. It also accuses both women of behaving in a sexually inappropriate manner with other unnamed children.

Borzoni, who is married and the mother of three, was licensed in 1990 to care for 12 children under age 5 in her home. At the time, Borzoni, her husband, Manuel, a machinist, her three sons ages 12, 16 and 19, her 80-year-old grandmother who used to live with them, and Jimenez were required to be fingerprinted and checked for criminal records. No criminal record turned up and Borzoni received her license, Lefley said.

Following standard procedure, state inspectors did not plan another visit to Borzoni’s home for three years, when her license would be due to be renewed. Inspectors said they rely on parents to notify them when something is wrong.

Borzoni said she was “shocked and devastated” Monday afternoon when, accompanied by Cypress police, two state licensing officials entered her family day-care home, taped a “closed” notice to her front door, and served her and Jimenez with legal papers accusing them of sexual molestation.

Asked if she had ever molested a child or “behaved in a sexually inappropriate fashion with her assistant,” as the licensing complaint stated, Borzoni emphatically said no.

But she added: “We are close to the kids. And we do hug the kids.”

Both Borzoni and Jimenez said they have credentials for early childhood education and have previously served as preschool teachers at the Cypress Early Learning Center. They said they had been caring for 12 children, ages 2 to 6, in Borzoni’s home solely because they enjoy working with the youngsters.

As two of her three teen-age sons listened in silence, Borzoni explained in an interview that she had tried to create an atmosphere of a preschool in her home, equipping a large carpeted playroom with toys, books, art supplies, child-sized worktables and half a dozen brightly colored parrots in large cages. Her dirt-covered back yard featured orange and blue play equipment, including a large cube to climb on and two slides.

Borzoni said she believed the molestation complaint had come from one child’s father who became angry at Borzoni in January or early February. He was the only parent who was dissatisfied with their program, she and Jimenez said.

According to Borzoni, she angered that father one afternoon when he arrived to collect his 3-year-old daughter and Borzoni refused to release the girl to him, believing he was either inebriated or on drugs. He then allegedly threatened to “get even” with Borzoni, she and Jimenez said.

In early February, Borzoni said, the girl’s mother informed her that the child was sick and later said the child would not be returning to the day-care home.

In late February, Borzoni said, state licensing officials made a surprise inspection and “confiscated our records,” saying she “had violated a child’s rights,” but offering no specifics.

Then Monday, “they came out and served me with papers,” Borzoni said. At no time, she and Jimenez said, did state licensing officials ask to hear their side before filing accusations and closing the day-care home down.

“They never talked to us,” said Borzoni. “Nobody has asked us if we did this. It’s the system.”

One parent, Barbara Oberle, whose two young children, Samantha, 2, and Drake, 5, have been under Borzoni’s care for about two years, said they love Borzoni and Jimenez. She said her children were traumatized Monday afternoon when police arrived and they watched as their two care providers burst into tears.

Oberle, 28, of Stanton said she has talked to other parents about the allegations and “nobody believes it.”

Oberle said that she now has to find another sitter for her two children, a prospect that her son finds disquieting. “Mommy, you tell us not to talk to strangers,” Oberle quoted him as saying. “Now you’re going to take us to strangers.”

Borzoni said she charged $75 a week per child. Some arrived as early as 6:30 a.m. and stayed until 6:30 p.m. She served the children lunch, she said, planned arts, crafts, reading and other activities. She said she allowed the children to stay as late as 8:30 p.m. when their parents were working late, at no overtime cost.

Borzoni, who grew up in Fresno, never graduated from high school but completed a G.E.D. at the same time as she got her Early Childhood Education Certificate from the North Orange County Community College District. She met Jimenez when both were preschool teachers at Cypress Early Learning Center.

Times staff writer Eric Young contributed to this report.