Day care worker accused of sexually assaulting 5-year-old girl charged with child molestation

SEATTLE -- A 31-year-old man accused of sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl at a Normandy Park day care center was charged Wednesday with first-degree child molestation.

Ian Moore, who had worked at the Kid's Country day care, was ordered held in the King County Jail in lieu of $200,000 bail.

Moore was arrested at the day care last Friday, after the father of a little girl told police he walked in on the abuse in the day care.

Detectives say when a father came to pick up his daughter, Moore and the child were “crouched behind a bookshelf." Moore told the father they were having a “tickle fight.”

Police say later  the 5-year-old told her father the employee touched her private parts.

When questioned, police said, Moore admitted to touching the child but told detectives it was an accident.

In court documents released Wednesday, a police detective said Moore said "when he slipped on a toy as he was tickling" the girl, his fall "caused his hand to slide into her panties and penetrate" one private area while touching another.

"Even after I tried to explain to Ian that his version of events was virtually impossible, he continued to claim that was how it had happened," the detective wrote.

Administrators at the day care said the state does an extensive criminal background check on all their employees. The state confirmed that they did one on Moore and he passed.