Baby-sitter accused of molesting boys
A 19-year-old Alhambra man hired through a child-sitting website pleaded not guilty on Monday to molesting an 8-year-old Glendale boy and his 3-year-old brother during an eight-month period.
Jordan Liu faces six felony counts of lewd acts upon a child, a felony count of sex and sodomy of a child under 10 and another felony count of continuous sex abuse from March 1 to Nov. 11, according to a Los Angeles County Superior Court criminal complaint.
Liu, who was arrested Nov. 22, remained in custody Monday in lieu of $2.7-million bail.
The 8-year-old Glendale boy reportedly relayed the alleged abuse after his mother read him an article on the sexual molestation allegations lodged against Jerry Sandusky, former Penn State University football assistant coach.
As she read the article, her son began to cry, and she asked him what was wrong.
He told her “Jordan has done some of those things to me,” according to police reports.
“Through this investigation — search warrants, evidence and through interviews — we were able to corroborate the victim’s allegations against Jordan Liu,” Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.
Calls to Liu’s home went unreturned Monday.
The boy told his mother that he never talked about the abuse because Liu said everyone would get in trouble.
Liu was hired through a baby-sitter service website, Sittercity, which said in a statement Monday that his profile had been removed upon learning of the charges.
Spokeswoman Mary Schwartz said in an email that the company was “deeply saddened” by the situation, and that other clients who had contacted Liu had been notified.
Police say Liu communicated with at least 100 parents through the website.
Liu described himself on his Sittercity profile as a Pasadena City College student who had eight years of baby-sitting experience and as being “very responsible and a very nice person.”
His services included cleaning, laundry, cooking and helping “your children with their homework, have fun with them and take good care of them.”
A parent commented on Liu’s Sittercity profile that she would hire him again after he had been “attentive and engaging” with her children, adding that “the kids all enjoyed him, especially the boys.”
Sittercity prescreens all caregivers who register with the website and runs their information through state sex offender databases, Schwartz said.
The website also advises parents to use Lexis Nexis, which culls information on criminal records and identification, to conduct additional background checks of its sitters, she said.
Liu baby-sat the Glendale boys about once a month, spending at least four hours each time looking after them, according to police reports.
Glendale police detectives are working with Sittercity to determine the identities of the other clients and whether they hired Liu to care for their children, Lorenz said.
“It is our goal to hopefully make sure there are no other victims out there,” he said.
Anyone with information may call Glendale Police Det. Ernesto Gaxiola at (818) 548-3106.