The Importance of A Background Check
A background check is critical and should never be overlooked. A recent problem in South Florida:
DEERFIELD BEACH - Broward County officials are investigating how a registered sex offender managed to get a job at the Quiet Waters Park marina, where he allegedly molested a 10-year-old girl.
Broward sheriff’s investigators arrested Corey Hipscher, 37, of Plantation, on Tuesday following the allegation that he fondled the girl during a boat ride at the park that afternoon. He had been working there four months.
Hipscher, labeled a sex offender following a 2003 conviction in a sexual battery case involving his then-girlfriend, is being held in the Broward County Jail without bond on charges of child molestation and violation of probation.
Florida Department of Corrections records show that the terms of Hipscher’s probation do not restrict him from working or living near children, but Broward County rules stipulate that felons convicted of any crime are not supposed to be hired into positions where they would have contact with children.
It’s up to the contractor to check its employees’ criminal history. County officials said they contracted with Toby’s Concession Services, Inc., which subcontracted with Hipscher’s employer, Broward Watersports.
“I’m very upset about this because I have grandchildren that age,” said County Parks Director Bob Harbin. “Obviously they didn’t do the background checks; otherwise they would have caught this person.”
Harbin said he’s asked to see copies of the background checks Toby’s Concession Services, which runs food, bicycle and boat concessions at the county’s parks, conducted on its employees.
The company’s owner, Cristobal De la Hoz, of Miami, could not be reached for comment despite phone calls Wednesday to his office and home.
The owner of Broward Watersports, Christophe Ribot, of Miami, could not be reached for comment either. A man who answered the phone at his home said Ribot was out of the country, and on Wednesday afternoon no one was at the marina, which was closed during what should have been regular operating hours according to a sign at the site.
In the Tuesday incident, the 10-year-old girl’s family alleges that Hipscher offered to take the child and her female cousin on a ride around the lake on a flotation device pulled by a small motorized boat, authorities said.
An adult with the girls wanted to go with them, but Hipscher said he could have only the girls as passengers due to the boat’s weight limit, according to the sheriff’s office.
The girls got on the boat with Hipscher. The 10-year-old was the first to ride on the float and as Hipscher assisted her out of the water to bring her back onto the boat, he touched and rubbed her vaginal area and buttocks several times, sheriff’s investigators said, adding that the 10-year-old’s cousin reportedly witnessed the touching.
Once ashore, the girls told family members that Hipscher had fondled one of the them, and relatives confronted Hipscher, officials said.
He denied the allegations and begged the family to ignore the incident. He also told the family that he would quit his job or allow them to beat him, so long as they did not report what happened, sheriff’s officials said.
When the family told Hipscher they were contacting the sheriff’s office and park management, Hipscher drove out of the park, but deputies arrested him soon after at his home, officials said.
The sheriff’s office asks that anyone with additional information about Hipscher contact Sex Crimes Detective Carol Dansky at 954-321-4240 or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS or www.browardcrimestoppers.org.
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