What to do if your child had contact with man arrested in sexual assault cases

A supervisor with the Exploited and Missing Children Unit on Thursday had a message for Wichita-area parents who might be affected by an unfolding investigation of Caleb Gaston – the man accused of sexually assaulting children while a childcare worker.

Sedgwick County sheriff’s Sgt. Dan Oliver had this advice for parents: “The takeaway from this is we need parents to talk to kids to learn if they are potential victims.”

Then, if parents think they have specific information for investigators, they should call 911, he said. Investigators are not able to interview every child who had contact with Gaston, Oliver said.

He described the detective work as a “very active and ongoing investigation, and we’re getting new information every day.”

“We are reviewing a significant amount of video data, and we have spread that across several detectives to learn as much information as soon as possible,” Oliver said. He declined to elaborate on the video data or where it comes from.

The Downtown YMCA where Gaston had worked has cameras in its day care areas.

Meanwhile, YMCA officials on Thursday confirmed that Trish Gaston, Caleb’s mother, “is no longer a YMCA employee.” Trish Gaston had worked as a wellness director at the Downtown Y for several years.

Caleb Gaston was arrested last week in the 1200 block of South Topeka and charged with raping a 4-year-old girl at the downtown YMCA on Jan. 29. Gaston was held in jail on a $100,000 bond until he was released on Tuesday.

He is now accused of sexually assaulting a 3-year-old girl at the same location last month.

His second arrest happened just before 9 p.m. Wednesday outside his home in the 1400 block of East Cresthill in Derby on suspicion of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, according to booking reports.

He’s now being held on $1 million bond, according to jail reports.

Gaston also worked at Plymouth Learning Center, a church preschool at First and Clifton. His employment was “terminated on 10/9/17 due to one complaint of inappropriate touching,” according to a statement last week by Plymouth Congregational Church.

This story was originally published February 8, 2018 at 4:42 PM with the headline "What to do if your child had contact with man arrested in sexual assault cases."