Allegations of child abuse exceed two dozen

Tom Gardner

Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2001 | 4:45 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - A worker at a daycare center allegedly molested 25 toddlers and the victim list was growing as police began to review hundreds of videotapes seized from the suspect's home, authorities said Wednesday.

"This is the worst case of this kind to hit our community in some time," said Cheryl Hier-Johnson, Washoe County's deputy district attorney.

Gary Hanneman, 33, initially was charged with molesting nine children at the daycare center across from the University of Nevada campus.

But investigators were continuing to field calls from parents and by late Wednesday the number of victims had surpassed 25, Deputy Reno Police chief Jim Weston said.

"In a case like this, we expected the worst with many victims," he said.

Some 500 videotapes have been confiscated along with a personal computer, which is being analyzed to determine if any of the video images were transmitted on the Internet, Weston said.

"The suspect has been cooperating with us and has pointed out which videos we should look at," he said. "His computer system also. We're going into that and take a look at the hard drive and see what's on there."

Hanneman initially was charged with sexual assault with a child, production of child pornography, possession of child pornography and lewdness with a child under 14.

He is being held in the Washoe County jail on $100,000 bail. Hier-Johnson said she would seek to at least triple that on Friday when Hanneman is scheduled to appear at a Justice Court hearing.

Weston said all of the children apparently were molested at the Children City Learning Center where Hanneman worked except for a 3-year-old boy Hanneman baby-sat at his home in Stead. The victims all were 2 to 4 years old.

At that age, Weston said, the children would not recognize a problem with sexual contact and generally would be unable to describe it to their parents.

"The kids adored him. Nobody had anything bad to say about him. He gained the trust of everybody, the parents and the kids," Weston said.

Hanneman was licensed and had passed local and FBI background checks before being hired by Children City. He had no criminal history, police said.

He completed his degree in early childhood education at Truckee Meadows Community College and worked in the child care center at the school.

Counselors at the community college were available for children and their parents, spokeswoman Paula Lee Hobson said.

The largest daycare center molestation case in northern Nevada involved more than 60 children at the Papoose Palace Academy No. 1 in Sparks in 1983.

Co-owner Stephen L. Boatwright pleaded guilty to four counts of sexually assaulting a child and was sentenced to four consecutive life terms.