D’HANIS, Texas - A Medina County constable is making it his mission to find more victims who may have been abused at an unlicensed home-run daycare. Constable Stephen Duffy of Precinct 3 has been going down the only business strip in town, posting up these flyers that read, ‘if you have ever taken your children to Sophie's at any time, give him a call’.
Constable Duffy said, “We'd like for the parents to come forward, so we can interview the children and find out if anything inappropriate happened to the children”.
Sixty six year old Agapito Contreras has already been arrested on one count of sexual assault of a child under the age of 14. The alleged abuse happened at a home in D’hanis that Contreras shared with his wife.
According to the constable, “it was a home, that was an unlicensed day care, and they had been keeping kids here for approximately five years”.
While the trailer once thrived as a place to care for children, the constable says it was also a thriving place for an alleged child predator.
“There were sometimes 5 or 6 children in the home at a time”.
But, now there are only signs of children who used to play at the home. Jack Armstrong noticed one of the flyers as he was leaving a restaurant in D’hanis.
He said, “I hadn't seen the flyers previously, but it's a shame things like that happen. It will probably be hard to find additional victims because children just keep that quiet”.
Not if Constable Duffy can help it. More victims have already come forward.
“Right now we have five confirmed children that were sexually abused”.
Since Contreras' arrest, the unlicensed day care has been shut. As for his wife who ran it, she remains under investigation by Child Protective Services. Agapito Contreras remains behind bars nearly two months after his arrest. His bond is set at $150,000.
