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NewsThursday, November 15, 2007 12:00 PM CST
Sex offender arrested while working at school cafeteria
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BATAVIA, Ill. -- Police have arrested a temporary worker at two Batavia schools who was convicted in 1992 in Wisconsin of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old.

Forty-one-year-old Gary Gasper was arrested Tuesday while working in the kitchen of Rotolo Middle School.

Batavia School District 101 officials say Gasper came under suspicion when he became skittish about signing the visitor log at the school.

Batavia Detective Rhoda Komes ran Gasper's name through a state sex offender database and discovered his conviction. Gasper was arrested at Rotolo and charged with four felony counts of being in a school zone as a sex offender.

District 101 Superintendent Jack Barshinger says administrators are investigating how the security breakdown happened and who Gasper had contact with while working at Rotolo and a high school.

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Reader comments on this story - 8 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Scared Silly wrote on Nov 15, 2007 1:02 PM:

" A lot of posters jumping on this to pander pointless Fear yet again. "I'm scared." "Its scary." As if there were nothing worse going on in the world that is even worse. Yet there is, and a great deal of it, disease, pointless wars, climate shift, oil depletion, is ensured to have a massive negative impact on your children. Still you go plodding along wearing blinders, ignoring the really important issues. "

or.. wrote on Nov 14, 2007 5:17 PM:

" go to Watchdog and see the ones that are listed in your neighborhood that didn't show up on the other websites....or..go to all of the sites and see everyone! it is scary! "

to "LB" wrote on Nov 14, 2007 5:14 PM:

" Read again, slick. They didn't do a background check on him at all until they became suspicious of his skittishness. They then contacted the police, which caused a detective to do the search on the sex offender database, thus showing his conviction of being an active pedophile. :p "

LB wrote on Nov 14, 2007 3:16 PM:

" Did you read the article? They did do a background check on the guy, that's how he got arrested. If you are asking why they did not before he showed up for work, that's probably because a lot of schools would not run background checks on contract company supplied employees, which this guy probably was given that he was a temp worker. You'd be surprised that at some schools where janitors and support employees from contract companies they don't run background checks on those individuals unless somebody complains or questions them. "

Sausage wrote on Nov 14, 2007 3:13 PM:

" I'm sure he served a helping or two. "

Just Wondering wrote on Nov 14, 2007 1:49 PM:

" Why they did not do a background check on this individual?? "

And this wrote on Nov 14, 2007 1:39 PM:

" Suprises people??? Go onto the Illinois State Police web site and run YOUR town by zipcode .. It will scare the @*@&&@ out of you !!! "

why wrote on Nov 14, 2007 12:19 PM:

" was his name not run through the database before he got the job?? "

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