YouthBASE Director Bobby Caples is a Filthy Pervert!
image of Bobby Caples via Greenville HD
I worked in after school programs for a while before becoming a full time Web content developer and there was nothing that we watched for more than perverts. I worked in YMCAs and we had strict rules in place to prevent even the hint of impropriety, including not letting adults be alone with children or groups of children, not allowing children to be alone with even multiple adults etc. We did this because it was well known that perverts showed up to get access children. I once had to hire a summer camp staff and there were several people who showed up that I wouldn’t hire because they set off alarm bells. They were too interested in kids (when I started working with children I just wanted a job that left me time to do my graduate course work and told the person interviewing me just that – I was hired on the spot) or had reservations about being fingerprinted. When you’re entrusted with other people’s children you cannot be too careful.
So reports that YouthBASE director Bobby Caples was just pinched molesting two children he was asked to care for (hopefully by family members and not by YouthBASE clients) makes me think either Caples is the most patient pervert ever or the YouthBASE staff is not as aware of who they work with as they should be:
GREENVILLE, SC- Greenville Police investigators have arrested the director of a youth program and charged him with committing lewd acts on minors.
Police arrested Robert Francis Caples, 29, of 14 Atwood St., Apt. 1, in Greenville, and charged him with two counts of committing a lewd act upon children under the age of 16, criminal sexual misconduct of a minor under age 11 and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. According to a prepared statement from the Police Department, Caples may have sexually assaulted two children from June 2009-September 2009 while they traveled and resided with him.
The report states that at some point, the children went on a trip with Caples to Texas and when they returned, they told their grandmother that while they stayed with Caples at his home and on the trip, they slept in the same bed and bathed with Caples and did not want to do so. In a warrant obtained by the Greenville Police Department, Caples is also accused of inappropriately touching the children in private places.
The report says that Caples was asked to care for them by their mother.
The article goes on to point out that YouthBASE was a program for troubled children, who are a particularly vulnerable population. Many “troubled” youth have already experienced sexual abuse or exploitation and without proper support and therapy begin to internalize a sexualized identity and victim mentality that leads them into other abusive relationships. They come to expect and accept abuse and thus sexual predators seek out children like this.
So who was providing the therapy and guidance for the program? YouthBASE only lists one shrink on its website. Here’s Bobby Caples’ bio from the YouthBASE web page:
Bobby Caples, Ed.S., NCSP
Executive & Program DirectorBobby has 10 years of experience in after-school and community-based education programs. He has worked with several Boys & Girls Club organizations, the YMCA, The United Way of Greenville County, several Parks and Recreation Departments, faith-based organizations, schools, and other community-based organizations as a volunteer, employee, researcher, founder, director, and consultant. He has conducted research into the implementation of evidence-based behavioral strategies in community-based after-school programs. He holds a B.A. in Sociology with a concentration in African-American studies from the University of Virginia, as well as an M.A. and Ed.S. (Educational Specialist Degree) in School Psychology from the University of South Florida with interests in community-based education, reading intervention, and behavioral intervention. He is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist, and is currently working on his dissertation for his Ph.D. in School Psychology. Bobby serves as the Executive & Program Director of YouthBASE, providing organizational leadership as well as program management, training, and consultation.
I’ll reiterate that YouthBASE lists no other therapists on their staff, thus kids needing counseling would be going to a man who is charged with molesting two children. As an aside, sociology degrees are like basket weaving degrees, throw in a “concentration” in African-American studies and what you have is someone who took the easy way through college. Not saying that is a sign of being a pervert, but it should make you question his ability to “implement evidence based behavioral strategies” whatever that means. What you have is a person who is not really interested in psychology finding an easy way to get a psychology credential. That’s a warning bell to me.
When you put your children into youth programs you must look at safety first. It is in vogue to look for places that are “creative” and “compassionate,” but the reality is you’re giving adults you don’t know access to children. Don’t be afraid to ask to observe the program before enrolling. Look to see if they have procedures in place to ensure children are not left alone with any one adult. You don’t know who you can trust, so you must be able to trust the program.
YouthBase hasn’t released a statement yet, and as of now Caples is being held on $40,000 bond.
Jack Clayton Accused of Soliciting Topless Photo from a Minor Child
Jack MacDaniel Clayton, 32, of Easley was reportedly charged with criminal solicitation of a minor this week after asking a a 12-year-old girl to send him a photo of her naked breasts.
The warrant alleges the girl was asked “to send a nude photo of her breast to him via text message.”
The girl told her parents about the message and they contacted law enforcement, according to the warrant.
When the girl didn’t reply to the request, the warrant alleges the sender “tried to coerce her to erase the message.”
Greenville Dragnet doesn’t often cover crimes that occur outside Greenville County, but we never pass up an opportunity to publicize the name of an alleged pervert who lives nearby. Jack Clayton fits the bill.
Clayton has been released on a $10,000 bond.
Whereabouts Unknown: 441 Georgia Sex Offenders Go Missing
Child molesters, rapists, and kidnappers are among the 441 registered sex offenders authorities in Georgia are unable to locate. And with parts of Georgia less than 50 miles from Greenville, the peach state’s missing sex offenders could be our problem too.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation maintains the state’s sex offender registry, and is charged with keeping tabs on over 17,000 offenders. Authorities have lost track of almost 250 registered sex offenders just from metro Atlanta, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
The AJC piece focuses heavily on the plight of much maligned sex offenders who simply want to live in peace. Anyone have a barf bag?
Authorities claim that citizens need not be concerned about the large number of absconders since the majority of victims know their attackers.
“The people on the registry are not the ones to be concerned about,” said John Bankhead, a spokesman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which maintains the sex offender registry. “It’s the ones who live right up under your nose. Stranger-on-stranger sex crimes do happen. But most cases involve people the victim already knows.”
Studies commissioned by the U.S. Justice Department suggest that children are more likely to be sexually assaulted by family members, baby sitters or authority figures such as teachers or coaches than by strangers. One analysis found that in 60 percent of cases in which boys were the victims and in 80 percent involving girls, the child knew the assailant.
But it’s easier to present statistics neatly wrapped and tied with a bow than it is to explain to distraught parents that a known sexual predator has their missing child. Nearly ten percent of registered sex offenders in the Atlanta area are off the radar of Georgia authorities, and any one of them could be creating new statistics at this very moment. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is publishing pages torn right from the playbook of pedophile rights activists. What’s next? A sympathetic paean to NAMBLA?
John Wesley Speer of Marietta Admits to Child Rape
On the eve of Thanksgiving comes news for which we can all give thanks. John Wesley Speer, an admitted child rapist, is behind bars.
Speer turned himself in at Greenville County Law Enforcement Center and now faces five counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor.
71-year-old Speer told Greenville County deputies he sexually abused five children between 1982 and 1997. The victims were members of his family, some of whom accompanied him when he turned himself in.
Matt Armstrong, of the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office said it was unusual for someone to come to the sheriff’s office front desk, along with some of their alleged victims, and confess to a crime.
“It is a very rare incident that someone would take it upon their free will, basically to come in and talk to law enforcement about this matter,” he said.
Fox Carolina reports:
According to arrest warrants, Speer forced three girls and two boys to perform oral sex on him. The warrants also accuse Speer of performing oral sex on the children, some as young as four years old. Speer is also accused of forcing the children to have intercourse with him, according to the warrants
Speer is being held on $250,000 bond.
Mauldin Police Nab Benjamin James Threatt in Online Predator Sting
Have people just not seen Chris Hansen’s To Catch a Predator series, or are they just convinced they’re smarter than the other pervs?
Benjamin James Threatt, 20, of Lancaster was busted in an Internet predator sting last Thursday when he allegedly tried to solicit a Mauldin cop posing online as an underage girl. The sting was part of the Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC).
Fred Cunningham of News Channel 7 reports:
Threatt is charged with one count of criminal solicitation of a minor. The charge is punishable by up to ten years in prison.
The ICAC says Threatt solicited sex on the internet from an individual he believed to be minor girl beginning in July. He was actually communicating with an undercover Mauldin Police officer.
Authorities have taken computer equipment from Threatt’s home into evidence and are holding him at the Greenville County Detention Center on $30,000 bond.