Former day care operator sentenced to prison

Former day care operator sentenced to prison

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Story Published: Sep 28, 2007 at 7:04 PM PDT

Story Updated: Sep 28, 2007 at 7:06 PM PDT

By KOMO Staff

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SEATTLE -- The former owner of a day care operation in two city grade schools on Beacon Hill has been sentenced to more than 16 years in prison for child molestation.

Christopher Eng, 23, owner and former operator of Critters Childcare at Beacon Hill and Kimball elementary schools, pleaded guilty last month to molesting two young boys in his care.

At his sentencing on Friday, one of the victim's mother described her pain.

"The day my child told me what this pedophile did to him, my world ended and I wanted to die," she said. "I wanted to crash the car we were both in so we wouldn't have to feel the pain, the shame, the confusion and the horror of the knowledge of what had happened to him."

Eng was charged last year with four counts of first-degree child molestation, one involving activity in a teacher's lounge, after a 10-year-old boy told his mother the man had been molesting him for two years.

According to documents filed by prosecutors in King County Superior Court, the boy said the molestation began while he was in the third grade at Kimball and occasionally visited Eng's home for help with homework and for summer programs.

According to investigators the latest episode occurred after lunch in the teachers' lounge Aug. 28 during the day care's summer program at Beacon Hill.

After Eng's arrest, a second victim came forward with allegations of molestation.

Before operating Critters Childcare, Eng provided before- and after-school care to children through a program at Jefferson Community Center, also on Beacon Hill.

Eng passed a state criminal background check before working at the schools, city school officials have said, and he was licensed by the state Department of Social and Health Services. State Child Protective Services officials are also investigating the case.

After Eng serves his sentence, he will be transferred to McNeil island for sex offender treatment. He may possibly even stay there for the rest of his life.






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