Police: Man arrested in YMCA child sex abuse incident
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — Police detectives have arrested a convicted sex offender in southern Oregon after a child was sexually touched at a YMCA swimming pool, police said.
The Grants Pass Police Department said in a statement Thursday that officers responded to a report of a sex offense on Monday involving a 6-year-old girl. Police said with help from YMCA staff, the person involved in the incident was identified as Rex McCurdy, a registered sex offender from California.
Detectives arrested McCurdy, 66, on Wednesday when he came back to the YMCA.
Police said he was lodged at the Josephine County Jail on suspicion of two counts of first-degree sexual abuse. It wasn’t immediately known if he has a lawyer to comment on his behalf.
Police said detectives are concerned that other children may have had inappropriate contact from McCurdy, who frequented the facility. They’re urging anyone with information to contact police.
Police said the YMCA runs federal and state background checks on people requesting membership and has denied membership over concerns about an applicant. But, because of restrictions in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, McCurdy’s sex offender status was not accessible during the YMCA background check, police said.
The YMCA has been provided additional resources to prevent this from happening in the future until all public records are appropriately updated from the COVID-19 backlog, police said.
