Woman in abuse case keeps day-care license

Denise Cardinal

Tuesday, Aug. 26, 1997 | 10:10 a.m.

A woman facing a child abuse charge may continue a home day-care business as long as she does not take on any new children and city inspectors conduct unannounced visits, the Las Vegas City Council ruled.

Voting 4-1 Monday, overriding recommendations by the city's Child Care Licensing Board, the city approved the continuation of Roda Rustomji's business despite the misdemeanor charge filed against her by the district attorney's office.

Testimony from five parents helped sway the council. The parents testified that their children are receiving good care and that they believe the woman is fine with children and not an abuser.

Councilman Michael McDonald cast the no vote.

The charge stems from an incident in which a 5-year-old girl in Rustomji's care allegedly had a two-inch square of hair yanked from her head. The Child Care Licensing Board said the girl reported that Rustomji is the one who pulled out her hair.

Nevertheless, the City Council sided with Rustomji when she asked that she be allowed to keep watching children.

"Considering the pending nature of this case, and since these parents are comfortable with leaving their children in her care, we can allow her to not take on any new children," said Mayor Jan Laverty Jones, who wanted to be sympathetic to the needs of working parents.

"She's innocent until proven guilty," said Councilman Arnie Adamsen. "I do ask that the child-care division conduct some unannounced visits during this time."

June Gilmore, chairwoman of the licensing board, said she didn't think the council would vote against the board's recommendation and therefore didn't go to the microphone before the vote was cast.

"This has never happened before," said Gilmore, who has chaired the board for two years. "The city has always supported our decisions."

Gilmore said the board recommended suspending Rustomji's day-care license for a reason.

"She was accused of child abuse and the DA saw the evidence and charged her with it," Gilmore said. "We thought it was warranted to suspend her license -- it is a privileged license. They usually can't find enough evidence and consider the charges unsubstantiated."

What the council didn't hear was that only two other cases, as far as Gilmore can remember, proceeded as far as the Rustomji case. Few allegations get to the point of a Metro Police investigation and even fewer have enough evidence to get the district attorney's office to press charges.

"We are ethically obligated not to file a case unless we believe it has merit," said Chuck Thompson, assistant district attorney.

Rustomji could not be reached for comment.

The council also didn't hear that there was another complaint filed against Rustomji that questioned her method of operation, said Don King, senior licensing officer. He said it was a concern surrounding how strict she was, an allegation that couldn't really be investigated.

Another thing the council didn't hear, but the Child Care Licensing Board did, was the testimony of Judy Bachman -- the mother of the 5-year-old who had the hair missing.

"I feel terrible," Bachman said. "We're doing the right thing and reporting this. Do they think I want to do this? It could have been a lesson for her to have her license suspended. How can they vote like that?"

"I'm appalled," said Ken Bachman, the girl's father. "I know she's trying to save her livelihood, but how can you make a serious ruling without all the testimony?"

The child abuse case is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Oct. 29.