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7/6/10 4 p.m. -- A popular Park Hill Day Care has been shut down by the state and a worker is accused of sex assault on a student.
Park Hill Daycare Probe

Day Care Worker Faces New Child Molestation Charges

Benjamin Janicki Faces 8 Total Charges Involving 4 Victims

POSTED: 3:44 pm MDT August 24, 2010
UPDATED: 4:57 pm MDT August 24, 2010

A 19-year-old day care worker appeared in Denver court Tuesday to face two new charges for allegedly sexually assaulting a fourth young child at a Park Hill church.

Benjamin Janicki now faces eight total charges, prosecutors said. He is charged with the same two felony counts for each of the four victims: sexual assault on a child and sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust.

He remains in jail on $650,000 bond, authorities said.

Janicki is accused of improperly touching and licking preschool children in early August while serving as a summer staffer at Park Hill United Methodist Church Children's Center, according to a heavily redacted arrest affidavit.

One child told Janicki "to stop and he did not," the affidavit said.

A child also told investigators that the teacher called "Ben" would "tickle" the children as they lay on their mats and "it did not feel good," the affidavit said.

State authorities temporarily closed the day care center Aug. 5 after Janicki allegedly admitted to sexually abusing as many as 13 children there, according to report issued by the Colorado Department of Human Services.

The state agency is investigating what it described as "serious and significant supervision issues."

The Rev. John Thompson has said the church hopes the center can one day reopen safer than ever.

Janicki is scheduled for a Sept. 8 preliminary hearing, when a judge will decide if there is sufficient evidence to require him to stand trial.

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