MAPLE VALLEY, Wash. — A Maple Valley day care has lost its license after a former employee was charged this week with child sex crimes.
The Washington Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) suspended the license of Discovery Playtown on June 5, according to the agency’s communications director, Jason Wettstein.
The business cannot operate without a license and Wettstein said DCYF has not determined when the suspension will be lifted.
Former employee Joseph Hefner, who also goes by the name Joseph Jones, is accused of abusing two sisters when they were 9 and 12 years old. According to investigators, Hefner became friends with the family when they dropped off their youngest daughter, who is 5 years old, at the day care.
He was charged with child rape, child molestation, and communication with a minor for immoral purposes earlier this week.
Court documents state the alleged crimes Hefner is charged with did not happen on day care premises.
Court documents revealed Hefner was convicted of child molestation when he was a teenager and had to register as a sex offender from 2013 to 2021. In a statement earlier this week, the day care owner said Hefner's criminal past never showed up on a background check and had no reason to believe he was unsuitable for employment.
A lawyer for the family of the two girls said investigators are also looking into the day care director, who was fired around the same time as Hefner, and if there have been any previous reports filed against him.
KING 5 has reached out to the day care for comment.