Roseville Teacher Arrested In Decades-Old Child Molestation Cases
PLACER COUNTY (CBS13) — A Placer County teacher has been arrested on child molestation charges that date back more than a decade.
The mug shot shows James Carroll, teacher and youth minister, in the same white T-shirt he was wearing when cops surrounded his home for the surprise arrest.
Neighbor Mark Chavez watched the bizarre scene involving police swarming the court and forcing Carroll to turn around and back up.
"And then they told him to get on his knees, put his hands on his head and that's when they out the cuffs on him," he said.
Chavez says Carroll never spoke to him.
"Living two doors down never having interaction with him, but all my kids say there's all kinds of interaction. Which is surprising and now as a parent when you're hearing the allegations," he said.
Carroll lived there with his wife.
The allegations go back to the 1980s and 90s. Sunnyvale Police say Carroll committed six counts of child molestation.
Roseville Police say there are no known victims here, where Carroll has been working as a teacher at Horizon Charter School.
The school superintendent put him on leave immediately and issued a statement to families reading, "We are determined to learn all we can about the charges from Sunnyvale, and whether anything similar could have occurred in our school."
Police say Carroll has also been active in youth ministry at his church, Valley Springs Presbyterian.
Eric Miedema is a parishioner who doesn't know Carroll.
"It's a sad story and that's why we need good safety checks for youth leaders and people in any ministries. Kids all the way to to high school and college probably too," he said.
The teacher and youth minister is now under arrest for crimes allegedly committed decades ago, and suddenly under intense new scrutiny.
