By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com
A worker at Creative Frontiers School claimed today she was aware of at least two instances of possible abuse in the last year at the private Citrus Heights school, including one that she says she witnessed herself involving Principal Robert B. Adams.
Irma Mertens, a 62-year-old receptionist at the school until she quit in May, said in an interview with The Bee at her home that she surprised Adams when she walked into the school's administrative office last summer and found him tending to a 7- or 8-year-old girl in a swim suit.
Mertens claims Adams did not hear her enter the office and that she saw the principal rubbing the girl and touching her in a physically and sexually inappropriate manner.
Mertens said she reported the incident the next day to school administrator Cynthia Higgins but that Higgins never passed the report on to state officials or police.
Mertens' allegations first surfaced Monday in the state Department of Social Services' formal accusation against Adams.
Mertens' allegations come one day after the state and Citrus Heights police shut the school down and announced they were investigating "multiple allegations of child molestation."
Police said Adams is "the focus of the investigation," but no charges have been filed. Adams did not respond to calls Monday or today, but his attorney has called the allegations "absolutely untrue."
Higgins refused to comment when visited at her Citrus Heights home this afternoon. "I do not want to talk about anything involving her at all," Higgins said.
Mertens, who is named as a witness in a complaint against the school by the state Department of Social Services, said she did not confront Adams at the time but told Higgins because, as administrator, it was her job to immediately report the incident.
The state's license revocation complaint against the school indicates that Higgins did not report the allegation, and Mertens said Higgins brushed the incident aside.
Mertens said she continued to work at the facility until May, when she heard of another instance involving Adams. This time, she said in a nearly hour-long interview, she heard from a teacher that a 3-year-old student had been pulled from the school by parents after the child claimed "Mr. Bob touched my pee-pee."
"Mr. Bob" is the nickname students and parents gave Adams, who has been described by some parents as enormously popular at the school.
Mertens said after that incident she had her daughter call the state Department of Social Services to report the matter but that the call was ignored. She then had a friend make a similar call but also could not get any help from the state agency, she said.
Eventually, Mertens said, she made five efforts before state investigators took her complaints seriously. She said she quit the job in May and turned over to police a spiral notebook filled with notes she had kept of everything she says she saw.
Mertens said authorities had promised her that her name would remain secret, and was frightened that it had been included in the state's complaint against the school.
She said she never told Adams or Higgins why she was quitting, but added that the two of them called her into a meeting some time before she left to ask if she had seen Adams do anything improper with children.
"Not this time," Mertens said she told them.
Police executed search warrants at the school and at Adams' Folsom home Monday, and Citrus Heights police spokesman Jon Kempf said today that investigators are looking at allegations dating back 15 years.
"We are going to review the evidence that was collected and based on what was found the investigation will take the next step," Kempf said. "We are actively asking anybody that may have been a victim or has any information to come forward."
Police ask that anyone with information call Detective Joe Rangel at (916) 727-5849 or the department's tip line at (916) 727-5524.
Previous coverage:
Molestation investigation shuts Citrus Heights private school - July 19, 2011
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