Bail Skipped in Molestation

A former Escondido amusement center employee has apparently jumped bail to avoid a jail sentence on charges that he molested three children who were at the park on a school field trip, authorities said.

Clemente Orosco SantaCruz, 28, of Tijuana was being sought Thursday by Escondido police. Detective William Wolfe said he feared SantaCruz had fled to Mexico.

SantaCruz, a former bumper-boat operator at Escondido’s Family Fun Center, had pleaded guilty to the charges. He failed to appear at a sentencing hearing Tuesday, where he was expected to receive a one-year jail term, officials said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Douglas Gregg said he was shocked that a manager of the center, Thomas Short, had posted $5,000 cash bail for SantaCruz on July 4, six days before SantaCruz pleaded guilty to three molestation counts.

Short declined comment. In an interview with police, however, Short said SantaCruz told him in May that he had touched one girl by accident.

Another manager at the center, Cindy Breeze, said SantaCruz was fired immediately after his June 26 arrest.

According to police reports, the three girls were molested May 1 as they left the bumper-boat ride. The girls were among a group of top students from Roosevelt Middle School in Oceanside who were being rewarded with an end-of-school field trip, Gregg said.

The girls told police that SantaCruz fondled them while pretending to help them off the boats.

SantaCruz told police during a May 29 interview that he touched four or five girls “because of the way they looked. . . . Clearly, it won’t happen again,” he said.