The Georgia Depatment of Early Care and Learning has joined the investigation into a child sex abuse case that allegedly took place at a Jefferson preschool.
Reg Griffin, spokesman for DECAL, said the investigation is centered around the allegations against 18-year-old Alexander Tredway, who was arrested Wednesday for molesting two children at Bright Beginnings of Jefferson at an undisclosed time. Tredway, who was employeed at the preschool at the time of his arrest, is charged with two counts of child molestation, two counts of cruelty to children and one count of sodomy, according to the Jefferson Police Dept.
The department joins the Jefferson Police Department and Georgia Department of Family and Children Services in the investigation. Griffin said DECAL will investigate specifically how preschool staff handled the allegations.
"Our determination will be if, and again working with law enforcement and working with DFCS, to determine if at any point children were in danger, the extent of the violations that the allegations cover with the employee, [and] how did the staff respond to that? What action was taken on their part?" said Griffin. "Then we'll take a look at that and see what action needs to be taken on the part of DECAL as a regulatory agency."
Tredway's charges stem from the two victims who have been identified so far by police. However, Griffin said the preliminary investigation has revealed more potential victims.
"In talking with our childcare services team, it's our understanding that additional potential victims have been identified by parents involved at the childcare program," said Griffin. "I don't have a number of possible victims involved, but they're going through each of those to ensure the validity of the additional allegations and whether any further charges could be necessary."
In a statement released last week on social media, Bright Beginnings said staff immediately informed authorities on Monday after a parent reported an incident Friday that their child had shared with them.
Authorities visited the preschool Wednesday and interviewed two children. Tredway was interviewed as well and taken into custody.
Griffin confirmed the preschool did report the incident to the authorities.
"As bad as it is, they did self report, so it's not something that they were trying to cover up necessarily," said Griffin. "But again, that's kind of part of the investigation, to look into all of those things...how it was handled, a timeline, what they knew, at the time for what they could know, video surveillance...we'll take all of that into consideration in putting together a final decision."
Staff at Bright Beginnings could not be reached for comment. The preschool shared in its statement that Tredway passed a state background check and had previously worked for another daycare facility.
Griffin said a decision was made to allow the preschool to remain open at this time.
He added Bright Beginnings is a licensed program, Quality Rated and a part of the Georgia Pre-K program.
Griffin said DECAL tries to complete an investigation within 30 days, but the timeline depends on the length of law enforcement's investigation.
In the meantime, DECAL resources are available to parents impacted by the investigation who chose to find a different daycare facility. A link is here.
