News

Abuse suspect has long history of working with children

Posted October 10, 2007 11:00 pm

Sarah Antonacci

One thing appears certain. Wherever A. Paul Carlock Jr. was, children were not far away.

Newspaper and court records researched Wednesday, along with interviews of concerned parents and business owners, indicate that, over a period of more than 30 years, Carlock almost always could be found working or volunteering in some way with children.

The 57-year-old Carlock, who's myriad of jobs includes performing locally as "Klutzo" the clown, was charged in federal court Tuesday with possessing child pornography and traveling to engage in sexual conduct with a minor.

When hired as a Springfield police officer in 1973, Carlock, a north-end native, said he previously had been employed by the state of Illinois at DuPage Boys School in Naperville.

For four of his years as a Springfield officer, he served as a youth division detective. He was a minister at the Rosewood Heights Nazarene Church in East Alton, where a former church member said Carlock and his wife at the time would invite over kids to watch movies and eat popcorn.

Carlock worked for four years for the Illinois Department of Public Health's Child Health Division. He served as the Grandview Police Department's certified juvenile officer. He volunteered with Big Brother/Big Sister for a short time. He and his most recent wife performed as the clowns "Klutzo" and "Smilee" for more than 10 years, entertaining at children's events and school programs. He was a marriage and family counselor, too.

And, it appears, he worked at at least two local day care facilities, according to parents who called The State Journal-Register. Owners of those businesses confirmed his employment.

Until this week, however, Carlock had never been arrested or charged with any crime involving a child.

As Carlock was being released from a psychiatric facility Tuesday, federal authorities arrested him on charges that he had gone to the Philippines to photograph naked boys and that he had sexually abused three boys there.

Immigration and homeland security officials allegedly found pornographic photos on his digital camera and laptop computer as he returned to the United States in June.

Carlock denied doing anything wrong. He told investigators he had intended to edit out the questionable pictures but hadn't gotten around to it yet.

Last month, though, Filipino authorities interviewed some of the boys in the pictures, and three said they had awakened to find Carlock fondling them in their sleep, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.

The news of the arrest shocked many people in Springfield, including at least one mother whose children used to attend the Bright Beginnings day care in Chatham.

"There are going to be a lot of parents who are concerned," said the woman, who asked that she not be identified.

She said she doesn't blame Bright Beginnings for hiring Carlock, because he had what appeared to be a stellar background with kids.

"It's very strange, but he said he was interested in taking videos and photos of some of the kids, and he'd ask their parents if he could take videos of them at a playground and he'd put it to music. He'd play them at the day care," she said. "I never saw one of a girl, only boys."

The woman acknowledged that she now is replaying her memories of Carlock to see if anything stood out about him.

The woman said Carlock and his wife, who filed for divorce last week, citing "extreme and repeated mental cruelty," performed as clowns a couple of times at the day care.

"It all seemed innocent enough," she said. "I do know there were a couple of questions about him holding boys in his lap, and parents felt it was inappropriate. I just wonder now about my kids."

Teresa Vance, owner of the day care, said Carlock worked there for six months on a part-time basis. He worked with 4-year-old children, she said.

"We have a screening process," she said. "It's a three-part background check - fingerprinting, sent through state police and through (the Department of Children and Family Services). His background check was good. I pulled it today. His references were great."

Vance said she was shocked to learn of the allegations.

"He seemed like a really nice guy. He was great with the kids," she said. "My child was in his classroom, and it's not been easy."

Amy Pruitt-Sidener, owner of the Lakeshore Learning Center, said Carlock also worked at her day care for a "couple of months" last year.

"What I can tell you is that he had no unsupervised contact with children, and we're pretty confident that nothing inappropriate occurred at our facility," she said. "He was supervised when he was here. We have at least two teachers in each room."

Court records indicate Carlock was married to a woman named Linda before his most recent marriage. The two divorced in 1984 after an incident that apparently forced Carlock to give up his job as pastor at the East Alton church.

After the couple split, records indicate, Carlock took their son with him and left their daughter with her mother. Eventually, the mother took custody of both children. Carlock visited twice a month and had more liberal visitation over the summer.

In 1988, he married Mary Andreatta. She filed for divorce Oct. 4.

It was with Mary, and on his own, that he practiced clowning. He is mentioned as one of the clowns who works with Lincoln's Laffers, an area clown group, though the president of that organization, Amy McKinney, said he hadn't worked with the Carlocks in the past two years.

She said she wouldn't talk about Carlock because the organization believes that everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

However, McKinney said, anytime someone in a profession is accused of something, it can be detrimental to everyone involved.

"People have a higher expectation of some professions - doctors, clergy and people who work with children - that those people will live by a higher standard, and I believe that's something we should strive to do," she said.

The vast majority of clowns work hard to perfect their art and present a positive image, she added.

"Our primary goal is to cheer people up," she said. "I think when there's an allegation, whether true or not true, the allegation of wrongdoing affects everyone.

"We're just looking at an allegation now, and it has a negative impact. The public is not always as forgiving as we'd like them to be."

Sarah Antonacci can be reached at (217) 788-1529 or sarah.antonacci@sj-r.com.

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