A Pulaski County Youth Services employee was fired Monday after being arrested over the weekend in the rape of a 14-year-old boy, a county spokesman said.
George Edwin Haney, 27, was arrested in North Little Rock on two counts of rape, according to a police report.
Haney, who was the director of an after-school program at Second Baptist Church on John Barrow Road in Little Rock, was fired, said Pulaski County spokesman Cozetta Jones.
"We, first of all, were shocked," she said. "I think everybody is shocked to hear this news."
Jones said Haney, who was hired by the county in August 2016, passed a criminal background check and background checks for child maltreatment and adult maltreatment. She said another background check revealed he was not on any sex offender registry.
After the arrest, County Judge Barry Hyde said this weekend that the county will review its pre-employment screenings to determine whether there is anything that should be strengthened.
The after-school program at Second Baptist Church has roughly 100 children and from elementary, middle and high school. Counselors will be at the site today for any children or parents who want to talk, Jones said.
A police report shows that Haney was arrested early Saturday after being found in a vehicle with an underage boy.
At around 11:28 p.m. Friday, a North Little Rock police officer saw a white Chevrolet Malibu backed in at 441 McCain Blvd., the address of Pike View Elementary School, according to an arrest report.
The windows were fogged up, according to the report, and the officer wrote that he saw a man sitting in the back seat as he passed in front of the vehicle.
A second male raised his head up as the officer put a spotlight on the vehicle, according to the report.
The officer opened up the rear driver's side door and saw a man, later identified as Haney, with his pants pulled down and an underage boy wearing boxer shorts. Officer Carmen Helton, a North Little Rock Police Department spokesman, said the underage boy was 14 years old.
The teenager told police during a recorded interview that Haney had messaged him on an app and met him outside his residence, the report said.
According to the report, the victim said Haney forced him to have sex.
Haney told police he believed the victim was 19 years old and the sexual acts were consensual, according to the report.
Haney's Facebook page shows he works as a substitute teacher for WillSub.
Deborah Roush, a spokesman for the Pulaski County Special School District, said Haney never substitute taught in the district but was listed as available to hire in the WillSub system. Efforts to reach a representative from WillSub were unsuccessful Monday.
Pamela Smith, a Little Rock School District spokesman, said in a written statement that Haney did substitute teach at multiple Little Rock schools this year, including at Horace Mann Arts and Science Magnet Middle School and Forest Heights STEM Academy. Smith confirmed that the school district receives all of its substitute teachers through WillSub.
Information for this report was provided by Jeannie Roberts of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Metro on 11/14/2017