Former staffer caught raping girls in Wichita YMCA daycare headed to prison
Caleb Gaston — the former YMCA worker caught molesting two young girls in the downtown Wichita branch’s Kid Zone daycare — was sentenced Friday to 27 1/2 years in prison, according to Sedgwick County District Court records.
Gaston, 22, pleaded no contest in February to two counts of rape. Authorities say in January 2018, Gaston sexually abused a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old in his care at the branch’s Kid Zone, a place where parents and caregivers can drop of children under age 8 for up to two hours while they exercise or take classes. Police arrested him after the 4-year-old girl disclosed that she’d been struck twice in the face by Gaston then taken into a bathroom and touched.
During that investigation, detectives discovered security video that showed Gaston pushing his hand down the 3-year-old’s pants and underwear a few days earlier.
The case prompted the Greater Wichita YMCA to add security cameras, including in Kid Zones, and change some of its policies.
At the time of his arrest, Gaston had worked part-time for the YMCA for five years and was a caregiver on staff, according to The Eagle’s news archives. He’d previously been fired from a local church preschool after someone complained that he’d inappropriately touched children.
In a motion asking the court for leniency, defense attorney Stephen Ariagno blamed Gaston’s poor decisions on a narcotics addiction. Judge Stephen Ternes imposed a 330-month sentence.
This story was originally published April 26, 2019 at 3:22 PM.
