Citrus Heights police review evidence against school principal suspected of molestation

Posted by Rose Giorza on July 19, 2011 Leave a comment (0) Go to comments

For more than 40 years, Robert B. Adams’ life has revolved around children. He raised three daughters, ran swim schools for youths in Southern California and served as principal at a highly regarded private school in Citrus Heights.

The Creative Frontiers school, nestled on 7 acres that include a swimming pool and horseback riding area, offered a preschool for children as young as 2 and a private elementary school and summer day camp that parents came to prize.

Now the 60-year-old Adams, affectionately known to students and parents as “Mr. Bob,” faces allegations that he has been living a lie for years and molested 10 children maybe more since 1997.

Adams’ schools were abruptly shut down Monday, and he has not responded to requests for comment.

His attorney calls the allegations “absolutely untrue,” and no charges have been filed as police continue their investigation, which on Monday included searches of the school site and Adams’ Folsom home.

“We have to move slowly and cautiously,” said Citrus Heights police spokesman Jon Kempf. “The search warrant was served (Monday) and officers are reviewing the evidence, and the next step we take will be based on that evidence.”

Despite the lack of charges, claims by parents, former students and at least one employee prompted authorities to close Adams’ schools, tarring him with one of the most despicable accusations imaginable.

“These children’s heads are going to be ruined forever,” said Irma Mertens, a school receptionist who told authorities she saw Adams abusing a young girl last summer.

“When I saw it, I was like, ‘What are you thinking? What are you thinking?’ ” Mertens told The Bee in a 50-minute interview Tuesday in her Sacramento home. “I can’t believe what I just saw.”

Mertens’ account first surfaced Monday in legal documents that the state Department of Social Services filed as part of a complaint used to suspend Adams’ preschool license. The agency said the “preponderance of evidence” made the move necessary even in the absence of criminal charges.

Based on the allegations, Citrus Heights officials also pulled the business license for Adams’ elementary school. Police made it clear Monday that they are pursuing a wide-ranging molestation case and issued a remarkably blunt statement saying Adams is “the focus of the investigation.”

During the interview Tuesday, Mertens described in more detail the allegations she made to the state Department of Social Services.

She said that she surprised Adams when she walked in on him and the little girl last summer. The girl, in a two-piece bathing suit, had been taken to the office for treatment of a cut, she said. Mertens said she walked in and found Adams crouching down, with the girl lying facedown.

“When I walked in he was sitting there massaging her arms and massaging her back,” she said. “And then he moved down to her buttocks and her legs.”

According to the Department of Social Services documents, Mertens alleged that Adams’ hand then went under the girl’s swimsuit and that he touched her “in a physically and sexually inappropriate manner,” a claim she repeated to The Bee on Tuesday.

Mertens said she went to school administrator Cynthia Higgins the next day and recounted what she had seen. She said she assumed Higgins would report the incident to authorities, as state law requires of any school employee.

Higgins also is named in the Department of Social Services complaint, which accuses her of failing to report abuse allegations.

Higgins declined to comment Tuesday.

“I do not want to talk about anything involving (Mertens) at all,” she said through the screen door of her Citrus Heights town house.

Adams’ attorney, Linda Parisi, flatly denied Mertens’ account, saying other adults were in the room at the time and that her story is fantasy.

“They were waiting for her parents together,” Parisi said. “There were several people in the room and no one saw anything happen because nothing did happen.”

Mertens said she continued to work at the facility until May, when she heard of another instance involving Adams.

That accusation also is outlined in the Department of Social Services complaint, which says that in January or February this year, a child told her parent that “Mr. Bob (respondent Adams) had touched her on her pee-pee.”

Mertens said that is when she decided to report her concerns to authorities.

A Social Services spokesman said the agency received its first complaint in the case May 31 and notified Citrus Heights police the same day.

The agency’s public file on Adams’ preschool dates back to 1981 and shows numerous inspections, with various complaints about problems that included ants in the facility and failing to conduct criminal background checks on some employees.

The most serious allegation stemmed from a May 2010 complaint that “a staff person touches children inappropriately.”

The file indicates an investigator went to the school unannounced on Nov. 5 for a one-hour visit during which staffers, children and parents were interviewed.

“However, the alleged child/victim could not be identified, so no interview took place with the alleged victim,” the investigative report states. “Some of the information provided through the interviews revealed that there was some discomfort with how staff #1 hugs children and rubs their heads.”

“Staff #1″ is not named, and the investigator concluded there was no indication of “serious inappropriate touching.”

Adams has enjoyed a glowing reputation, and was recognized by Citrus Heights Mayor James Shelby in 2008 for his “commitment as an educator, administrator and community leader.”

But he has had some financial difficulty, and there appear to be questions about aspects of his background.

Adams filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1998, saying his school was financially devastated when its swimming pool was destroyed during flooding in 1995.

At the same time, the Adamses were sued for wrongful termination and some parents began having trouble paying tuition, according to his bankruptcy court filings.

Adams’ credentials do not appear to match a rsum he submitted to showcase himself as an “experienced educator” during his bankruptcy filing.

Adams indicated he received a California teaching credential from California State University, Northridge, in the early 1970s. However, Northridge officials said he did not receive a teaching credential from the school.

The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing could not find a teaching or administrative services credential for Adams.

His rsum also says he attended graduate school at UCLA and obtained a California administrative credential in early childhood education. UCLA officials said they have no record of Adams attending the university.

Adams’ rsum further states that he completed his master’s in education in 1979 at Pacific Oaks Teachers College in Pasadena. Officials in the registrar’s office at Pacific Oaks said Adams took two courses in the spring of 1980 and did not receive a master’s degree.