Ferguson

A St. Cloud daycare owner was arrested Wednesday for allegedly sexually abusing an underage female relative that did not attend the preschool.

James Ferguson, 73, was arrested by members of the St. Cloud Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Unit for allegedly molesting a 13-year-old girl who resided in his St. Cloud home.

He was arrested after the girl’s mother discovered diary entries the girl had written alleging the sexual encounters took place over the last two weeks, Sgt. Denise Roberts said.

According to the charging affidavit, the girl told detectives Ferguson, who owns Rocking Horse Preschool Academy on Tennessee Avenue in St. Cloud, began touching her breasts and genitals in late January.

The girl’s mother told police she became concerned after her daughter confirmed the numerous sexual encounters had occurred and took her daughter to St. Cloud Regional Medical Center for an examination.

Ferguson was charged with multiple counts of sexual battery with a victim under the age of 18; lewd or lascivious molestation with a victim under the age of 16; and child abuse/domestic violence.

He is being held at the Osceola County Jail without bond.

The girl’s mother told police Ferguson and the girl previously had a difficult relationship and she thought it was strange when the pair became closer recently but didn’t question it.

Ferguson denied touching the girl, telling detectives during his three-hour interview the girl’s mother asked him to speak with the teenager about puberty.

He claimed the girl wanted to know about the “birds and the bees” and he explained to the teenager how she should masturbate when she has sexual thoughts, according to the affidavit.

Parents whose children attend Rocking Horse Preschool Academy were shocked Wednesday about Ferguson’s arrest as they came to pick up their children, with several parents removing their children from the facility.

Mike Dominguez rushed to the daycare to pick up her daughter after seeing the story on the news while on break at work.

He pulled her daughter out of the daycare Wednesday afternoon. She had only attended the facility for five months.

“Any good parent would (remove their child),” Dominguez said, adding he saw Ferguson daily and the owner was always friendly.

“I see him there everyday. He’s always in the office,” Dominguez said, adding he never saw him in contact with the children. “He always said ‘Hey, how are you?’ I didn’t see him (Wednesday) but I didn’t think anything of it.”

Roberts said the daycare’s director told detectives Ferguson does not have direct contact with the children, as he held an administrative role at the facility.

Dominguez was one of several parents who voiced their concerns to detectives after police set up their mobile command unit in a church parking lot across from the daycare Wednesday afternoon.

Detectives want parents to question their children about whether Ferguson may have been in their classrooms or had involvement with him.

“We want parents to be proactive and question their kids. We have concerns there may be multiple victims,” Roberts said, adding the investigation is still active in the event more victims come forward.

Ferguson’s charges are considered a disqualifying offense by the Florida Department of Children and Families, meaning the daycare can stay open without the owner’s presence.

“He would not be able to have contact with the children or be on the property,” DCF spokeswoman Carrie Hoeppner said. “It’s still very concerning. If additional victims do come forward, it could very well change things.”

Ferguson has owned the daycare since 2002, according to state records.

The daycare location is also the former St. Cloud Church of the Nazarene’s parsonage where the pastor’s wife, Norma Thomas Page, 28, was brutally murdered in her young sons’ bedroom in June 1979.