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Ohio babysitter indicted on 6 counts of rape

AKRON, Ohio (WJW) — A 25-year-old Akron man accused of soliciting babysitting services online is charged with raping children he babysat.

Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh on Friday said a grand jury indicted Timothy Luna on 10 felony counts, including six counts of rape, three counts of gross sexual imposition and one count of importuning.

The charges involve several children from three local communities, between the ages of 6 and 13 years old, according to his indictment.

Prosecutors said Luna posted his information on Care.com, a website for finding caregivers like babysitters or tutors, and was hired for babysitting services.

According to Luna’s indictment, he’s charged with raping a 6-year-old between December 2021 and June 2022 in Cuyahoga and Summit counties, and with raping a 9-year-old in Summit County in October 2018. Those charges also carry a violent sexual offender specification. He’s also charged with trying to solicit sex from a 13-year-old online in June 2021 in Summit County.

The victims resided in Akron and Coventry Township in Summit County and Parma Heights in Cuyahoga County, police confirmed during a Friday media briefing. Luna’s indictment combines charges from all three cases.

“Those cases are still under investigation and at this time, we still continue to learn new information about those cases,” Parma Heights Detective Adam Sloan told reporters during a Friday media briefing on the Parma Heights case.

Parma Heights Detective Eric Taylor said the 6-year-old victim’s mother approached police in June with information about the sexual assault, believed to have occurred between December 2021 and February 2022 in Cuyahoga and Summit counties. Investigators later discovered two other victims in Summit County, he said.

“We still have search warrants being executed and on some devices,” he told reporters. “We’re working our way through the court process at this point.”

Investigators are also trying to determine if others may have been victimized by Luna. Families who hired Luna as a babysitter are urged to contact their local police department or these local detectives:

Luna’s earliest charged offense dates back to 2018. Police were not sure how long Luna had been registered as a caregiver on the website.

A spokesperson for Care.com issued a statement Friday:

“We are horrified by this report and our thoughts are with any impacted family.  We take the safety of our community very seriously which is why we require all caregivers to complete a background check before they can engage with families on our platform. This individual has been removed from our site, and we’ve taken steps to block him from ever re-enrolling. We have been in contact with law enforcement and are prepared to assist however we can and as this is an active investigation, we won’t comment further.”

Investigators said they were not aware of Luna previously being categorized as a sex offender in the past. He is not listed in Ohio’s sex offender registry database.

Sloan on Friday urged consumers to scrutinize caregiver services advertised online.

“Any type of services you’re soliciting from the internet — you always have to have that heightened sense of caution. You need to be careful with who you’re dealing with,” he said. “Anybody can throw a name out there. Do you know who that person is?”

Child abuse perpetrators often threaten to harm their victims or their victims’ family members if they speak out, Sloan said. He encouraged parents to pay attention to children who may start behaving or talking unusually and to talk with them about it — because they could be signs of abuse.

“Through our experience, signs of abuse can be different for every child. Things to pay attention to would be certain behaviors your child does not normally engage in and any statement your child does not normally say,” he said. “They could also express knowledge or certain terminology or acts that someone their age would not and should not normally be aware of.”