ROCKVILLE, Md. (WJLA) – Parents want to know why a convicted peeping Tom, now facing charges of animal sexual abuse, remains employed by Montgomery County Public Schools.
Last November, Montgomery County Police arrested Joshua Greenberg, 29, of Montgomery Village, for spying on teenage girls as they changed in a locker room at Herbert Hoover Middle School in Potomac. Greenberg, who was a janitor at the school, entered a physical education office where he peered through a window with blinds. A group of half-clothed girls saw Greenberg's furtive glances and immediately notified school leaders. Upon reviewing school surveillance cameras, detectives saw the 29-year-old entering the private office around the time of the incident.
During police questioning, Greenberg fessed up to the crime and admitted he was "sexually aroused [and] attracted while watching the victims change."
In March, Greenberg pleaded guilty to a single count of Private Place Prurient Intent. Montgomery County District Court Judge James Sarsfield sentenced him to three years of supervised probation and ordered he pay $557 in fines. As part of his plea deal, Greenberg was required to complete 40 hours of community service and attend weekly counseling for psychiatric treatment.
During an April 17 meeting with his court-assigned forensic social worker, Greenberg admitted to having an interest in juvenile females and added that, "his [November 2013] offense was not the first time he has done something like this, it was just the first time he had been caught."
On June 5, Greenberg met with his probation officer, where he confessed to masturbating while watching a group of juvenile females at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds. The 29-year-old was completing community service hours at the time of the relapse.
In mid-October, Greenberg attended a one-on-one session with his probation officer. According to court documents, he was, "visibly upset... sweating profusely, shaking and crying." During a follow-up session with his father and social worker present, Greenberg admitted to sodomizing and engaging in oral sex with his parent's black labrador retriever, Lilly. Montgomery County Police have since charged him with Perverted Practice, a felony in the state of Maryland.
Despite a troubled trajectory of deviant sexual misconduct, ABC 7 News has learned Greenberg is still employed by MCPS. Following his November 2013 arrest, administrators quietly moved the janitor to the Shady Grove school bus depot along the 16600 block of Crabbs Branch Way in Derwood. In fact, his name, job title and email address are posted on the school district's website.
"It's outrageous that he was allowed to continue as an MCPS employee," said Jennifer Alvaro, a Bethesda mother and sexual abuse therapist. "People are putting their blind faith and trust in a system that is time and time and time again proving they don't deserve it."
ABC 7 News visited the Montgomery Village home Greenberg shares with his parents along the 9500 block of Snyder Mill Court. His mother answered the door with two dogs by her side. She denied any knowledge of the recent criminal case against her son, and then shut the door.
"He must be in a really bad place," longtime neighbor and close family friend Joan Steinberg said. "He's a sweet kid, he's a good worker, he does whatever he's told and he tries hard. Don't judge when you don't know the whole story."
MCPS spokesman Dana Tofig declined an on-camera interview, but released a written statement, saying:
"As soon as the incident at Hoover Middle School was reported last year, the police were contacted, the employee was removed from the school, and he has not served in a school since. As a building maintenance worker in a bus depot, an employee would have no contact with students in any way. While we do not discuss the outcome of personnel investigations in the media, it is important to note that each investigation is different. The outcome of an investigation can be impacted by a variety of factors and circumstances that, while not appropriate to share publicly, need to be taken into account."
Still, parents like Alvaro say there is no valid excuse for a school system to employ a convicted sexual offender. Period.
"There should be complete and utter outrage and anger," Alvaro remarked. "I think the school system has proven that it will not and cannot clean this situation up on its own. There's something deeply disturbing and very wrong about that."
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They are in the process of interviewing the victims multiple times.
ReplyDeleteWe need a new superintendent, one who will ensure that the school system will not tolerate behavior that could harm students.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile the authorities are making room for him on the list:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wjla.com/articles/2014/11/i-team-investigation-thousands-of-names-being-removed-from-maryland-sex-offender-registry-108675.html
I remember when PG county began having bad superintendents. They did nothing. They renewed their contracts and watched their school system go downhill. Those with brains got the heck out of that dump.
ReplyDeleteI was much younger and recall conversations about how that would never happen in Montgomery County. The citizens here would never tolerate that for our children. The parents here wouldn't stand for less than the best for the nation's brightest children. Now, the best superintendents probably wouldn't look our way after the fiasco create by this BOE and the miscreant we have posing as a superintendent.
It's the people who make the community and the standards for the school system are a reflection of the parents in our community.