A longtime Phoenix Parks and Recreation employee first accused of sexual misconduct with three underage boys 12 years ago was fired Thursday following his arrest over the weekend on suspicion of the acts.
Arthur Rey Juarez, 42, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of one count of sexual conduct with a minor, three counts of molestation of a child, two counts of sexual abuse and one count of attempt to commit molestation of a child, according to Phoenix police.
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His bail was set at $150,000.
The boys were 13, 14 and 15 years old at the time of the incidents, which took place from 1995 to 1998, police said.
Police spokesman Trent Crump said Juarez met the teenagers through his job. All of the incidents occurred in Juarez’s Phoenix home, police said.
Crump said there was no indication of additional allegations, but the investigation was ongoing.
Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department spokesman David Urbinato said Juarez was hired as a recreation leader in 1988 and worked part-time throughout his tenure.
Juarez was fingerprinted and underwent a background check in 1996, according to his personnel record, which only dates back to that year, Urbinato said. His background check came back with nothing to disqualify him from working with the department, Urbinato said.
It was not clear whether Juarez interacted with children as part of his official job duties. Urbinato said officials were still piecing together “exact details” of his job responsibilities, but a 1997 performance evaluation noted that Juarez was “doing a good job with teens and (the) teen council at Maryvale.”
Urbinato said Juarez’s duties over the years included building and field supervision such as turning on lights and monitoring park conditions. He worked 10 years at the Phoenix Center for the Arts as a building supervisor, Urbinato said.
Crump said the allegations were first reported to the Police Department’s child-sex crime unit in 2001, but the case sat dormant until 2005.
“We can’t explain why there was no activity during that time, other than we don’t think the case was getting the detective’s full attention,” Crump said. He said the detective is no longer with the department. Crump added that the Police Department in 2001 never informed the Parks and Recreation Department of the allegations.
In 2005, detectives again contacted the victims, who were reluctant to come forward, Crump said.
The case was reopened this year by the Child Crimes Task Force set up by Mayor Greg Stanton to review old cases to ensure they were properly handled. An internal audit in 2012 showed the department handled cases involving children poorly. The department has so far finished reviewing 972 of the 2,845 old cases, police said. The reinvestigations have resulted in 12 arrests.
Detectives last month re-interviewed the three alleged victims in the Juarez case, leading to his arrest.
At a news conference Thursday at police headquarters, Stanton said: “I am the father of two young children. This is heartbreaking for every parent who has heard about this.
“I am outraged by what I have learned here today about the allegations against a city of Phoenix employee, who has been terminated today.”
Police Chief Daniel V. Garcia said the department takes full ownership of the mismanaged cases.
“This is not the quality of work we want,” Garcia said. “We will review all 2,845 cases. We owe it to the victims to bring them justice and we have to bring these perpetrators to justice.”
He said the department anticipated some “tragic stories” to come forward as a result of the reviews.
Garcia has instituted safeguards to protect future child-sex crime cases, including that detectives now need to have approval from two supervisors before suspending or closing a case. He has also increased the number of detectives to 55 from 27 and increased the number of Spanish-speaking detectives to 15 from five.
