Petaluma Boys & Girls Club employee arrested on child endangerment charges

PETALUMA, Calif. (KGO) -- Police say the 22-year-old posted a picture of a girl who was in one of the club's after-school programs in an internet chat room for child pornography. He also posted her home address and parent's phone number.

Fortunately for the family, the Department of Homeland Security happened to be monitoring that chatroom.

"The chat room involved child pornography and so they had started doing a preliminary investigation, and what they found was that the image came from an address here in Rohnert Park," Rohnert Park Police Commander Aaron Johnson said.

Parents were shocked by the allegations. "Lots of kids use that program. There's a lot of full time working parents at our school and a lot of my son's friends are in that program," one parent said.

He told police he accessed the club's computer remotely from his home in Rohnert Park. In a statement, the Boys and Girls Club says its mission is to keep children safe and it is fully cooperating with the investigation.

Goerke started working at the non-profit in 2014 and was promoted this past January to Site Director responsible for weekday programming for K-8 students at Cinnabar.

STATEMENT FROM BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB:

Boys & Girls Club of Marin and Petaluma has fully cooperated with every agency that has sought information about the organization. Applying the highest level of integrity to all operations, especially safety related matters has stood as the number one guiding principle of BGCMP.

Earning and maintaining the public trust is the lifeblood of any organization, especially one whose mission involves the safety, well-being, and character development of children.

During the years that the organization has served the community, the most important priorities of our clubs in Petaluma and Marin have been the safety and protection of the children we serve, and the responsible stewardship of the resources entrusted to us by donors.

All supervisory policies and practices are designed to ensure the maximum safety and protection of Club members and staff, and full accountability and transparency in all matters.

More information will be shared when the review of this issue is completed and all the facts are known. BGCMP requires that each of its clubs operate in a safe manner, and in an environment of transparency, accountability, and the highest ethical standards, and we hold ourselves and our member organizations to these standards.

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