New sexual assault charges filed Tuesday against 20-year-old Morgan Hill resident Nicolas Lhermine added two more children – including a 3-year-old girl – to the YMCA employee’s list of victims, authorities said.
The two new charges of lewd and lascivious acts with a child younger than 12 bring the total alleged victim count to five. These include four small children age 7 or younger, and a 17-year-old girl whom Lhermine took nude photos of, according to authorities.
YMCA Silicon Valley Executive Director Elizabeth Jordan said the latest charge relating to the now-youngest victim was “fairly new” information to the nonprofit youth services organization.
The 3-year-old alleged victim was identified as a result of the YMCA’s and investigators’ effort to encourage parents to talk to their children who may have ever been in contact with Lhermine, Scott said. The girl’s parents informed police about the child’s response to their questions, and investigators conducted a “very methodical interview” with the child to determine Lhermine assaulted her.
Investigators conducted numerous such interviews with “as many kids as we thought he might have had contact with,” Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott said.
“Remember there are scores of children he had access to,” he said. “One of the reasons we’re going so slow (in the investigation process) is we want to explore that avenue, and figure out as many disclosures as we can. The reality is most victims never disclose, and they’re troubled by this the rest of their lives. You’ve got a guy who is a pedophile and had access to that many children and God knows how many kids he got his hands on.”
Morgan Hill Police Sgt. Carson Thomas added, “During the course of our investigation, the (3-year-old girl’s) father reached out to us saying we should talk to his daughter.”
The total number of Lhermine’s alleged victims could continue to rise for several years, Scott said outside the courthouse in Morgan Hill, after Tuesday’s hearing. Several observers – including adult couples, some with small children – hastily left the courtroom immediately after the hearing.
“We might have children disclosing for 10 or 20 years, or maybe never,” Scott said.
Thomas added that since the investigation began, police have interviewed more than 85 children who have been in contact with Lhermine through their participation in YMCA programs in Morgan Hill. Police do not think anymore of those children are victims.
Furthermore, all the parents of children who were in the same YMCA program or programs as the other victims have been notified of Lhermine’s offenses, Thomas added.
Police have sent Lhermine’s computer files, mobile phone and other electronic evidence obtained with a search warrant to the county’s forensic lab, which is still in the process of examining the evidence, according to Thomas.
Police reports filed with Santa Clara County Superior Court days after Lhermine’s arrest only reference the first two victims – the 6-year-old and 17-year-old girls. The reports detail the police interviews with the younger victim, who said Lhermine brought her into the bathroom at the day care facility and manipulated her into engaging in a sex act.
The YMCA will be working with Morgan Hill police investigators to determine how Lhermine had contact with the 3-year-old girl, at a site where he was tasked with overseeing children enrolled in a licensed day care program for 4- to 6-year-old children run by the YMCA.
“We don’t know if the 3-year-old was a sibling of one of the kids enrolled in the program, or if she was enrolled in a concurrent program” at the same site that “may have” enrolled children as young as 3, Jordan said. YMCA staff did not know the victim’s identity as of Wednesday.
The other female victim identified by prosecutors at Tuesday’s hearing is 7 years old, authorities said.
Lhermine was arrested by Morgan Hill police July 12, when a 6-year-old girl under his care at the YMCA day care facility at Paradise Valley Elementary School told her parents and investigators that Lhermine forced her to engage in a sex act in the bathroom at the day care site, authorities said. During the initial investigation, police found pictures of a nude 17-year-old girl on Lhermine’s mobile phone. Lhermine knew the teen, but she was not affiliated with the YMCA program.
Since the initial investigation, YMCA staff have reached out to parents of any children who may have been in contact with Lhermine during the four years he worked for the YMCA, asking the adults to ask their children about any “inappropriate touching” that may have happened while they were in contact with the suspect, Scott said.
As a result, investigators identified three more victims – including the 7-year-old and 3-year-old Lhermine was charged with assaulting Tuesday. A previous charge alleges that Lhermine was also in possession of child pornography depicting a 5-year-old girl who was identified after Lhermine’s arrest. That girl was also enrolled at the YMCA program.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office filed the new charges at South County Courthouse, where Lhermine appeared Tuesday in handcuffs and a Santa Clara County Jail inmate jumpsuit. He leaned toward his attorney, listening intently before and during the proceeding, which lasted less than five minutes.
Lhermine has been in custody since his arrest. He already faced a maximum sentence of life in prison before the new charges were filed Tuesday, according to authorities.
In addition to the charges filed Tuesday, Lhermine faces charges of oral copulation on a child younger than 10, lewd and lascivious acts with a child younger than 12, possession of child pornography and production of child pornography – all related to victims identified by police since July, according to authorities.
Lhermine worked as a child care aide at the YMCA day care facility during the alleged assaults, and has held numerous positions – including youth soccer coach and child care at other YMCA facilities – in his four years of employment at the YMCA, according to authorities.
YMCA staff are still trying to determine if Lhermine volunteered for the organization before he became listed on the YMCA payroll, Jordan said.
Lhermine’s private attorney, Riccardo Ippolito, said he is still in the process of investigating the allegations, but declined to comment further.
YMCA staff said shortly after Lhermine’s arrest that he violated numerous policies the organization has in place to prevent employees from being alone with children under their care.
The YMCA also recently concluded its own internal investigation into Lhermine’s contact with children, as well as the organization’s policies and procedures for ensuring children are safe at YMCA programs, Jordan said. That investigation found the YMCA could implement more guidelines to ensure the children’s safety, according to Jordan.
Staff recently notified parents whose children are enrolled in YMCA programs that five new guidelines are already in place at all YMCA facilities in Silicon Valley as of the end of August, Jordan said.
“I think the most important thing for parents to know is we’re constantly revamping, revising and reviewing our policies and procedures,” Jordan said.
The new procedures include additional staff at children’s programs during the busiest times of day; adding staff hours to take care of site cleanup after the last child is gone, so they won’t be distracted from caring for all children; and additional restrictions on personal cell phone use by employees, Jordan said by e-mail.
Lhermine’s next hearing is scheduled for Oct. 29 at South County Courthouse.
“Above all else, it’s just really sad that this appears to have taken place in a community like Morgan Hill, and this was someone who grew up here and was well known,” Jordan added.
