Day-care officials stay positive after recent events

Jen Lawson

Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2004 | 9:29 a.m.

Metro Police said it is apparently just a coincidence that two high-profile cases this month have been connected to the Creative Beginnings day-care center in northeast Las Vegas.

A hearing-impaired employee of the center was kidnapped as she left her job at the center Monday afternoon, and on Jan. 3 another employee of the center was arrested on charges that he molested two boys in a neighborhood where he used to live.

In the kidnapping case, the woman had just left work for the day, about 2 p.m., when she was acossted by at least one man who had been waiting in her van down the street, in the 5200 block of East Bonanza Road, Officer Enrique Hernandez, a Metro spokesman, said.

The woman was hit on the back of the head and knocked unconscious, Hernandez said. She apparently was beaten more as she was driven to a desert area off Lake Mead Boulevard near Sunrise Mountain, Hernandez said. Police are trying to determine whether she was sexually assaulted.

The suspect got out of the van and left her near Sunrise Mountain, and she was found about 3 p.m. by Bureau of Land Management officers, police said.

The victim, whose name hasn't been released, wasn't able to give police a description of the suspect other than he wore gloves.

"It doesn't make sense," Phil Irish, the owner of the day-care center, said. "It happened in broad daylight on a busy street."

A supervisor at Creative Beginnings named Charlene, who wouldn't give her last name, said the kidnapping of her co-worker didn't make her rethink her habit of walking 10 minutes to and from work every day.

"I'm not the type of person to be afraid," she said as she stood near the spot where the kidnapping occurred.

She said she and her co-workers are "devastated" for their colleague.

"She's a trooper, though," Charlene said. "It could have been a lot worse."

The victim is bruised, Irish said, but she was expected to be back at Creative Beginnings today. She's worked there for two years.

"She's valued and she's a treasure," Irish said. "She smiles every day ... It's one of these things that makes you sick."

It was the second time in a month that a police case involving one of his employees had made Irish feel sick.

"It's awful," Irish said. "But it's a spin of the cosmic wheel sometimes, where these things happen. I don't know why the wheel is stuck on us."

Irish sees the kidnapping as "a random street crime" and nothing more, but because of the proximity to his business and the fact that the victim was one of his employees, he's having to deal with the fallout.

Irish stressed that the kidnapping and the arrest of an employee on child sex charges are not related.

Just two and a half weeks ago, 29-year-old Kimya Winbush was arrested by Metro Police on 11 counts each of sexual assault of a victim under 14 and lewdness with a minor as well as two counts of producing child pornography.

Two of the alleged victims are boys who live in Winbush's former neighborhood. Police are investigating whether any children who attend Creative Beginnings were victimized. They have not charged Winbush with any offenses in connection with children at the day-care center.

After Winbush's arrest, some parents withdrew their children from the center, but not enough to hurt business, Irish said. Most didn't let the arrest affect their opinion of the center.

"The fact that those parents stuck by us, I am so grateful to them," Irish said. "We do a good job ... People know we take our job seriously."

To help parents feel their children are safe, Irish said he is getting 32 video cameras installed at the center today.

Charlene said it's unfortunate that two crimes connected to the day-care center have occurred, but she didn't think it would tarnish its reputation.

"Mr. Phil has a genuine concern for the children," she said. "All of the positive things we do here definitely outweigh the negative things that have happened."