Crime & Safety
Police Believe Alleged Molester of Autistic Boy May Have Other Victims
Jeremy Shawn Stockton worked at the Valley Therapeutic Recreation Center in North Hollywood and other places around the San Fernando Valley.
An in-home caregiver being held on suspicion of molesting an autistic child in the San Fernando Valley may have other alleged victims, police said Monday.
Jeremy Shawn Stockton, a "caregiver to children with developmental needs,'' was taken into custody last Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department's media relations office.
Stockton, 29, is an employee of Wellspring, a local agency that specializes in behavioral intervention for young children with autism, according to the LAPD.
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He began working for Wellspring as an in-home caregiver for developmentally disabled children in May 2008, investigators said.
KTLA reported that Stockton's alleged victim was a boy, and that Stockton was arrested after the boy came forward with details of the alleged molestation.
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Stockton, jailed in lieu of $1.45 million bail, is charged with 11 felony counts of committing a lewd act upon a child and three felony counts of oral copulation of a person under 14.
The criminal complaint alleges that the crimes occurred between March 1, 2008, and March 26 of this year.
He pleaded not guilty last week and is due back in San Fernando Superior Court on May 3, when a date is scheduled to be set for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to require him to stand trial.
This afternoon, police released a photo of the 6-foot-tall, 185-pound suspect, who has also been a special education trainee at Ulysses S. Grant High School in Van Nuys, saying they believe there may be additional alleged victims.
In 2009, Stockton worked with developmentally disabled children at the YMCA facility in La Canada Flintridge, though not as a YMCA employee, according to the LAPD.
He has also worked at the Valley Therapeutic Recreational Center at North Hollywood Park at 11430 Chandler Blvd., according to detectives.
Anyone with information relevant to the case was asked to call LAPD Devonshire Division Detective Teresa Pikor at 818-832-0985, or Detective
Casey Cox at 818-832-0978.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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