An employee at the Walden West Science Camp in Saratoga is facing molestation charges following an investigation that found hundreds of images and videos of child pornography on his computer, according to the press release Santa Clara County Office of Education.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office arrested 27-year-old Edgar Covarrubias, who worked at the Walden West camp in Saratoga, after detectives found found hundreds of images and videos of child pornography on Covarrubias’s personal computer and phone during a May 7 search at the camp, according to a press release by the sheriff’s office.
Fifth-grade students in the Mountain View Whisman School District are among the kids who attend the county-run outdoor education camp, according to an email by Interim Superintendent Kevin Skelly. Students from the district participated in the camp in Saratoga where Covarrubias worked. It was revealed this week that Covarrubias had contact with children at the camp, despite initial claims to the contrary made by the camp director. Covarrubias was charged with committing a lewd and lascivious act with a child, according to a May 11 letter to district parents from Jon Gundry, the county’s superintendent of schools. Covarrubias worked as a substitute recreation assistant and evening facilities monitor.
“Covarrubias did have at least some opportunity to be alone with students, the extent of which is the subject of an ongoing investigation,” Gundry wrote.
The Santa Clara County Office of Education will be running its own independent investigation into the practices at Walden West to determine “how this happened and how we can be sure nothing like this will ever happen again,” Gundry wrote in the email.
The Santa Clara County Office of Education has removed Covarrubias from his position and he is no longer an employee for the county. A substitute recreation assistant and evening facilities monitor has taken his place at the camp, according to an email sent to parents by Skelly.
Covarrubias had passed all the background screening for employment, including “fingerprint clearance” from the department of justice, Skelly wrote in the email.
“This is probably an opportunity for you to have a conversation with your child about safety,” Skelly wrote to parents. “If they noticed anything inappropriate, please contact us right away.”
Fifth and sixth-grade teachers at Mountain View Whisman schools will talk to students who went to Walden West and be will be available to students if they have any concerns, Skelly added in a May 13 email to parents.
The investigation into Covarrubias began when detectives from the county’s Sexual Assault Felony Task Force (SAFE) received information from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which tracks downloads and exchanges of child pornography across international borders. Investigators identified Covarrubias as someone who was downloading the illicit content.
Covarrubias has worked at the Walden West Science Camp since August 2013.
The county sheriff’s office is urging anyone with information on the case to contact the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office SAFE Task Force at 408-808-4300 or safetaskforce@sheriff.sccgov.org.
