Jun 4, 2009 11:00 pm US/Central
Apartment Caretaker Accused Of Child Molestation
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (WCCO) ―
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Mark Grassi, 56, is accused of taking pornographic photos and molesting children he was trusted to babysit.
Hennepin County
A Brooklyn Center man is accused of taking pornographic photos and molesting children he was trusted to babysit. Parents discovered the images on their own camera and now there's worry of more victims.
Mark Grassi, 56, is the caretaker of the Earle Brown Farm Apartment complex that some children referred to as "grandpa". People there knew him as Roland Campbell.
Investigators say the mother of two children who Grassi babysat recently got a camera back she loaned him months ago. She discovered pictures of private areas of a baby and a man's hand.
Police say she told them she recognized Grassi's couch and a scratch and birthmark on her 2-year-old daughter's leg.
The next day her 11-year-old said Grassi also touched her private parts and asked to take pictures.
An 11-year-old girl from another family in the complex also reported Grassi sexually touched her.
"He's preyed on little children. He's taken pictures of them. He has extensive pornography on his cameras and his videos at home", said Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman.
Grassi is a level one sex offender.
"Like all the sex offenders that are registered in Brooklyn Center he was on file and we completed regular compliance checks. And check we conducted he was in compliance," said Brooklyn Center Police Chief Scot Bechthold.
Prosecutors say they found more than 200 sexual images in Grassi's apartment of girls 5 to 12 years old in similar sexual poses. Investigators won't say if any were pictures of local children.
Parents at the apartment complex, like Derek Johnson, couldn't believe it.
"I never thought anything was weird about him or anything," said Johnson.
The building manager told WCCO that when the caretaker was hired in 2007, they did a background check, but it didn't show anything that was cause for concern.
It's not clear why all of this wasn't discovered which includes pages and pages of offenses, including a 10-year prison sentence in 1992.
"I can't believe they let him work here if he'd done this before because we didn't know that," said Johnson.
Police are still investigating to find out if there are more victims. That's why they are distributing fliers to the 150 people who live in the Earle Brown Apartments telling them about the incidents and giving tips on talking to children who may have been at risk for sexual abuse.
The guidelines include staying calm during the conversation. Don't name specific people, but ask if anyone has touched your child in a way that makes him or her uncomfortable. To see the entire list click on the link below.
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