Pleasanton daycare employee arrested on molestation charges

PLEASANTON, Calif. -- An employee at a Pleasanton day care center was charged Monday with lewd and lascivious acts with a teen girl, police said.

Alexander Kurtz, 22, of Castro Valley was arrested at about 3 p.m. Thursday and charged by the Alameda County District Attorney's Office Monday, according to Pleasanton police.

He was fired by his employer, Building Kidz Preschool at 4300 Mirador Drive, after police informed them of the allegations, police said.

The alleged acts happened before Building Kidz took over the preschool last September, police said. The victim was a 14-year-old former student at the school, called Busy Bees at the time, which also provides daycare services for school-age children.

Kurtz is not suspected of having any inappropriate relations with any current students at the school, police said.

"We had no reason to believe anything until that day when he was arrested and the following day when the authorities told us that the charges were child molestation," Vineeta Vhandari, the school owner, said.

"Safety of the children is our primary concern and that the school has been extremely cooperative from the minute they were informed of this and we're going to hopefully be able to answer any questions that they may have," Pleasanton Police Sgt. Kurt Schlehuber told ABC7 News.

Monday evening parents met with school staff and police, after they were first informed of the case by letter.

Anyone with information regarding the case has been asked to contact the Pleasanton Police Department at (925) 931-5100.

ABC7 News contributed to this report.