Caurey Verlon Rollins (Richmond County Sheriff’s Office)
A 25-year-old man in Georgia who recently worked at a public elementary school as physical education paraprofessional was arrested last week for allegedly tickling and licking the toes and feet of a 7-year-old boy while at a family amusement park.
Caurey Verlon Rollins was taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with one count of non-aggravated child molestation in connection with the disturbing incident, authorities confirmed to Law&Crime.
According to a sworn affidavit of probable cause obtained by Augusta CBS affiliate WRDW, deputies with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office on the afternoon of Wednesday, Jan. 14 responded to a call at Urban Air Adventure Park located in the 200 block of Robert C. Daniel Jr. Parkway.
Upon arriving at the scene, deputies reportedly made contact with the William Gilbert, the owner of the establishment. Gilbert reportedly told the deputies that Rollins was alone inside of the building in a fenced-in area designated for children to play. The victim was at the park with his friend and the friend’s mother, WRDW reported.
Rollins allegedly approached the victim and “tickled his feet, asked him to remove his socks and eventually licked both of the victim’s feet,” deputies wrote, according to The Augusta Press. During the alleged licking incident, Rollins was reportedly “displaying his phone” and the device’s flashlight was turned on.
The victim’s guardian, Caitlin Phillips, provided more details in an interview with the news station.
“[The victim] said ‘there was an adult and he asked me to sit down in front of him and he um, wanted me to remove my socks and started rubbing on my feet. And then he started licking them’ — like, licking his toes,” Phillips reportedly told WRDW. “Whenever one of the children came down, that was with me he came to me with a very concerned look on his face and he mentioned to me that there was an adult up there that, at first, he described was tickling his feet, and that alarmed me.”
When questioned by deputies, Rollins allegedly claimed that he had met family members at the park who had just left and he was preparing to leave himself, per the Augusta Press. Investigators claimed they later learned, however, that Rollins did not meet with anyone else at the park.
Rollins’ personnel file shows that he was a physical education paraprofessional at the Glenn Hills Elementary school in Richmond County. The file shows that administrators on Jan. 17 notified Rollins that they had been aware of the incident at Urban Air and placed him on unpaid leave for an “undetermined number of days” to give school officials time to thoroughly investigate the allegations.
Rollins on Feb. 11 informed the district via email that he was resigning from his position with the school “because of the situation at hand,” the message stated.
“I appreciate everything you have done for me so far, but it is in my best interest to step down from the Board of Education and seek other employment,” Rollins wrote.
The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to messages from Law&Crime.