Man charged with sex assault against 3-year-old girl at day home in northwest Calgary

Police have charged a Calgary man with sexual assault against a three-year-old girl at a day home in Citadel in the city's northwest.

The girl's parents reported the alleged incident to police in February after she told them shehad been touched inappropriately by a man at Jane's Day Home.

The accused worked in the unlicensed day home, which was operated by his wife,but he was not a primary caregiver, Staff Sgt. Dominic Mayhew of the Calgary policechild abuse unit said Monday.

Gary Francis Hachey, 65, is charged with sexual interference and sexual assault of a child.

It's alleged he had sexual contact with the girl when they were alone.

"There's no other people that have come forward," said Mayhew."Certainly it is a possibility, but at this time we have no other information to suggest there's any other offences."

The investigation tookseveral months partly because of the need to wait for DNA samples to be tested, police said.

Mayhew saidthe day home operator, who had been in business for about 10 years,voluntarily closed it when the allegations came to light.

"The children's parents were spoken to within 24 hours and the day home was not taking clients as of 24 hours after it was reported to us," he said.

The operator of the day home has been co-operating with the investigation.

Police interviewedparents who had children enrolled at the day home around the time of the incident, as well as former clients, Mayhew said.

Cheryl Crowther with the Alberta Family Childcare Association says there are no safeguards in place for unlicensed dayhomes.

"There is no regulation on having criminal record checks done," she said."There's no monitoring visits. Whereas in approved regulated care, unannounced visits are done monthly on the homes. So there's nobody overseeing theprivate ones."

Hachey's next court appearance is set for Aug. 4.

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