Convicted Pedophile Confesses to Police to Sexually Abusing More than Twenty Children at Valley of the Moon Children's Home. No Charges Brought.

A convicted pedophile confessed to molesting over twenty children at Valley of the Moon Children's Home while employed as a staff member, according to the Santa Rosa Police Department. Santa Rosa Police Sergeant Terry Anderson explained that the convicted child molester confessed to the abuses to detectives in the Santa Rosa Police Department in the year 2000. In the wake of the confession, no charges were brought and no victims were identified.

In an email to a mandated reporter about contemporary abuses in Valley of the Moon, Anderson outlined the confessions and the number of children abused.

“In 1997 the Petaluma Police investigated and arrested McCall for child molest which occurred in their city. During their investigation they learned McCall admitted to a third party he had molested children at the Valley of the Moon Dependent Unit. This information was provided to the dependent unit, and to a Santa Rosa Police detective. It appears the dependent unit stated there had been no disclosures made by any children, however due to the length of time that has gone by I am unable to determine what our detective did to investigate the incident.In 2000 during an initial sex offender registration, McCall told a different Santa Rosa Police detective that he had molested approximately 20 children while working at the Dependent Unit. The detective’s report included the following; 'McCall stated he did not expect any of those crimes to be reported as these victims were either asleep during the molests or were too young to know what was happening'. In 2010, our department received a suspected child abuse report from a therapist about McCall’s disclosure of molesting children at the dependent unit in 1996. A note on the SCAR [Suspected Child Abuse Report] from Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Snetsinger stated 'info already investigated in 8/2000 by Musgrove-victims not identified'.

Based on this information it appears the incident was investigated by our department on at least one occasion, and possibly initially in 1997. Because both of the two detectives (from 1997 and 2000) have long since retired, I have no way of knowing details about their investigation,” read the email from Anderson to the advocates.

The pedophile  was arrested for molesting a child outside of Valley of the Moon Children's Home.

Charges were never brought for the victims at Valley of the Moon Children's Home. Some of the children who were abused may still be still young enough that they can bring criminal charges. Anyone born in 1986 (age 28) or later who was abused can still bring charges.

It is unclear what happened with the 1996 disclosure of abuse.

Even after confessions of sexual abuse by a staff member, Valley of the Moon Children's Home failed to background check all of its employees. On April 3, 2013 Valley of the Moon Children's Home was cited by Community Care Licensing for failing to perform criminal background checks on all of its employees.

Foster Change Coalition is working with local non-profits to get help for the victims of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse at Valley of the Moon Children's Home. Any person, adult or child, who needs help because of abuse they suffered at VOMCH can contact Foster Change Coalition. We can be reached at (707) 780-2363 or fosterchangecoalition@gmail.com.

Valley of the Moon Children's Home is an emergency shelter for children who have been so severely abused or neglected that they could not stay in their homes. Their license forbids them from taking children who are a danger to themselves or others. It is owned and run by Sonoma County Department of Human Services. It is fully staffed by Sonoma County Department of Human Services employees. Community Care Licensing, a state agency, is charged with overseeing its safety.