Reno daycare worker charged in sexual assault, molestations

Scott Sonner

Monday, Feb. 26, 2001 | 4:51 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - A daycare worker charged with sexually assaulting a 3-year-old boy allegedly confessed to molesting eight additional toddlers and police investigators said Monday they fear there were more victims.

Gary Hanneman, 33, Stead, also was charged with production and possession of child pornography after he allegedly videotaped some of the assaults in the toddler room at the Children City Learning Center in Reno, police said.

Hanneman is trained in early childhood education, had cleared criminal background checks and renewed his county work card just three weeks ago, Reno Deputy Police Chief Jim Weston said.

He was arrested on Friday but police kept the arrest secret until all parents with children at the center could be notified on Monday.

All known victims so far were ages 2 and 3. Each was allegedly sexually assaulted within the last year or 18 months.

"Obviously, this is just the beginning.," Weston said in a telephone interview.

"Typically, in cases like this with pedophiles they have a long string of victims. He worked at this center for nearly two years and he was a volunteer at another one.

"We are just expecting the worst at this point," Weston said.

Hanneman has been working at the center (847 North Center Street) on the edge of the University of Nevada, Reno campus since May 1999 and was employed as the facility's toddler coordinator before his arrest.

The center is one of the few in town that offers care for casino workers and others on the swing shift, remaining open until 3 a.m., Weston said.

Washoe County Social Services has no prior complaints or violations involving Hanneman, said Alice LeDesma, supervisor of county child care services.

Since it opened in 1998, the county has investigated two substantiated complaints against the Children City Learning Center, one in July 2000 that resulted in the firing of an employee accused of "roughhousing with the children," the county said in a statement.

However, neither case involved inappropriate sexual contact, the county said.

Reno police began an investigation Friday into a report that Hanneman had sexually assaulted the 3-year-old while babysitting him at his residence in Stead, just north of Reno.

Detectives from the department's sex crimes unit interviewed the child, then interviewed Hanneman.

"During the course of the interview it was learned that Mr. Hanneman had not only sexually assaulted the original 3-year-old victim, but had confessed to molesting and additional eight victims during his employment at Children City Learning Center," Sgt. Doug Evans said in a statement Monday.

Employees of childcare facilities licensed by the county must apply for a work card and undergo a local background check by the sheriff's office as well as a national background check by the FBI, LeDesma said.

Hanneman's card was current, having been renewed on Feb. 8.

"There was no readily apparent information in his background that would indicate he was unsuitable for employment at a child care facility," Evans said.

A woman answering the telephone at the daycare center Monday said the director of the center was not immediately available to comment.

Hanneman was being held in the Washoe County jail in lieu of $67,000 bond. He was charged with five counts of sexual assault, two counts of production of child pornography, two counts of possession of child pornography and one count of lewdness with a child under 14 years of age.

Hanneman worked previously as a volunteer at a child care center at Truckee Meadows Community College.

A native of Reno, he graduated from Reed High School in Sparks in 1986. He earned a degree in computer science from UNR in 1991 and received the degree in early childhood education from the community college in 1999.