Attorneys have filed a civil lawsuit against a Maple Valley daycare center after the criminal investigation of an employee at the center resulted in felony charges of child sex offenses.
In a complaint for damages filed in King County Superior Court on Sept. 3, the Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala Law Firm argues that negligence on behalf of the now-shutdown Discovery Playtown, a nonprofit daycare in Maple Valley, resulted in a failure from the daycare to protect minors from a convicted sex offender.
Former Discovery Playtown employee Joseph Hefner, 25, of Federal Way faces charges of rape of a child in the first degree, child molestation in the first degree, and communication with a minor for immoral purposes in King County Superior Court.
Prosecutors filed charges against Hefner on June 4, charging him with having sexual intercourse, sexual contact, and communicating in a sexual nature with two minors after he met the family of the minors working at the daycare, and maintained a friendship with the children’s family for years.
“Discovery Playtown knew or should have known that Joseph Hefner was likely to sexually abuse children … because prior to his employment with Discovery Playtown, Joseph Hefner had been convicted of child molestation in the first degree and was a registered sex offender,” stated the complaint filed. “Despite his prior conviction and sex offender status, Discovery Playtown hired Joseph Hefner as a daycare employee.”
The lawsuit requests monetary relief from Discovery Playtown for damages resulting from the alleged sexual abuse.
“[With] civil lawsuits … we only can achieve monetary compensation. We can’t undo what happened,” said attorney Benjamin Watson of the law firm. “The only aim here is to make sure the monetary compensation is sufficient to secure not only treatment needs, but also to compensate them for what happened — their pain and suffering now, and the pain and suffering of the future.”
Watson stated attorneys have received “tremendous” witness outreach in response to the lawsuit.
“People have rallied around this situation and provided a lot of help and a lot of information,” Watson said. “What we’re seeing is that Joseph Hefner’s conviction, potentially, was known to the employees at Discovery Playtown … and if that is indeed the case … that’s going to be very problematic, that they allowed a convicted child molester to work in the daycare.”
The attorneys aim to identify whether the daycare held knowledge of Hefner’s prior conviction.
According to Watson, the attorneys have received allegations that the program director of the daycare “was personally aware of Joseph Hefner’s prior conviction.”
“The fact that Discovery Playtown is now in the media …and they’re seeing the fallout of their actions, hopefully that will deter future negligent conduct by other daycares,” Watson said.
