<
More than three years after the arrest of Nicolas Lhermine—the former YMCA employee who was convicted of sexually molesting four young girls under his care—the civil trial initiated by his victims’ families is scheduled to begin this month.
<
The lawsuit filed in May 2014 alleges that Lhermine’s employer—YMCA Silicon Valley—allowed the 23-year-old Morgan Hill resident to watch over a classroom of children between the ages of 3 and 7 without supervision, a violation of state law.
<
An investigation headed by the victims’ attorney, Robert Allard, found that while he was illegally unsupervised with the children at the Morgan Hill childcare facility where he worked, Lhermine repeatedly searched the internet on his phone and computer for child pornography, according to Ed Vasquez, spokesman for Allard’s firm.
<
“The YMCA failed to enforce its policies, which resulted in Nicolas Lhermine surfing the internet during work hours and searching for information as to how to molest young children,” Vasquez said. “The information gathered from the internet searches was used by Lhermine to sexually molest the young children at the YMCA daycare facility”
<
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are YMCA of Silicon Valley, Mount Madonna YMCA and Lhermine. The lawsuit was filed by Allard on behalf of the four victims and their families in Santa Clara County Superior Court.
<
While jury selection for the civil trial was scheduled to begin last week, an ongoing strike by county clerk employees delayed that process, Vasquez said. Jury selection is now set to begin Aug. 15, with attorneys’ opening statements scheduled to begin later next week.
<
Lhermine is currently in prison serving a 60-year sentence for numerous sexual assault crimes involving four young female victims, ages 3, 5, 6 and 7, as well as a 17-year-old female. In August 2015, Lhermine pleaded guilty to six counts of lewd or lascivious acts on a child by force, violence, duress, menace and fear, among other charges.
<
Morgan Hill police arrested him at his home July 12, 2013, after a 6-year-old girl under his care at the YMCA program—which was housed at Paradise Valley Elementary School—told her parents and investigators that Lhermine forced her to engage in inappropriate contact in the bathroom of the daycare site.
<
During a follow-up investigation, authorities identified three more female victims—ages 3, 5 and 7 at the time of the incidents, police said.
<
Lhermine worked as a childcare aide for the YMCA of Silicon Valley when the incidents occurred, according to authorities.
<
Vasquez noted that during one of the incidents—in which Lhermine chicaned one of the girls into the facility’s bathroom to orally copulate him—his supervising teacher, April Zuck, was in a separate kitchen area cleaning. The California Code of Regulations states that a childcare aide such as Lhermine may work “only under the direct supervision of a teacher,” and the teacher should not perform housekeeping duties that distract from supervisorial duties.
<
“This regulation was repeatedly violated, which clearly led to the multiple instances of physical abuse by Lhermine,” Vasquez said.
<
Furthermore, Vasquez claims that the YMCA reprimanded Zuck for violating these policies while Lhermine was molesting one of the victims in the bathroom, although the YMCA denies this.
<
“Despite earlier instances of reported physical abuse—which resulted in a written reprimand to Lhermine—he was given wide latitude and preferential treatment,” Vasquez added.
<
Shortly after Lhermine’s arrest, the YMCA hired a public relations firm for $30,000 to help protect the nonprofit youth organization’s image while in the midst of a fundraising campaign, Vasquez added.
<
In an August 2013 email from Scott VanSickle, Vice President of The Hoffman Agency (the PR firm hired by the YMCA) to YMCA staff, VanSickle wrote that the Times’ news stories about Lhermine’s case at the time were “arguably exploitive toward the children most at risk from the incident and subsequent fallout.”
<
In another email, VanSickle advised Elizabeth Jordan, YMCA of Silicon Valley Director at the time, on how to answer questions from the media and cautioned her to avoid on-camera television interviews if possible.
<
Vasquez provided VanSickle’s emails to the Times.
<
YMCA staff and their attorneys did not respond to phone calls requesting comment.
<
The lawsuit also details other incidents that resulted in Lhermine’s conviction, including an assault where he photographed a victim after forcing her to partially undress, and touched her inappropriately while they were seated together in the back of a field trip bus. On another occasion, he groped a victim from inside her pants, according to the victims’ complaint.
<
Any potential award for damages related to the claims in the lawsuit would be determined by the jury, Vasquez said. He noted that sexual abuse can affect children for the rest of their lives.
“(The damages) need to reflect the damage these children have for a lifetime,” Vasquez said. “It stays with the child forever. Research and statistics show that victims have a tough time coping in life, and the need for counseling is life-long.”
