Molestation Case Sent to U.S. Attorney

A monthlong investigation into an allegation of child molestation at Point Mugu’s child-care center is now in the hands of the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, the Navy base’s commanding officer said Friday.

“I am waiting for the U.S. attorney to decide what they are going to do with the case,” said Capt. Stephen D. Beal, commanding officer of the Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station.

“We don’t know the truth at this stage,” he said. “The investigation is still going on. The U.S. attorney will make the decision” whether the matter warrants criminal prosecution.

For the past few weeks, Beal said, investigators have been reviewing the evidence, including interviewing the parents of preschool children who attend Point Mugu’s Child Development Center and parents of older children who attend the base’s after-school program.

A multiagency task force of 50 FBI and Navy investigators and counselors joined in the probe, interviewing 140 pairs of parents, he said. The purpose of the interviews, he said, was to preserve the integrity of the children’s testimony as well as help the parents through this difficult period.

The investigation was launched March 21, when a toddler made an allegation against a child-care worker at the base’s Child Development Center.

The employee remains on paid leave, Beal said, as is standard practice in such instances.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.