Last night 7News blew the lid off a shocking allegation of a convicted US sex offender living in Lake Independence who has been plying neighborhood boys with Ramen noodles in exchange for sex acts. Tonight, following our lead, police are actively investigating a case, which they more or less walked away from on Saturday night. That's when a concerned resident of the area – which we will very generally refer to as Police street – saw a boy in a disoriented state – and asked him what was the matter. The child explained that he had been forced to perform oral sex with a man from the neighborhood in exchange for two packs of noodles. The concerned resident called the police – who picked up the man, but released him hours later – because the child's mother did not want to make a complaint. The case might have died there, but we heard of the story and followed up. Turns out the man in question is a convicted sex offender in the state of California – and has been living in that area of Belize for more than two years.

Our reporting on the case caught the attention of the southside commander and today he told us that he has sent his officers into the area to search out possible victims:…

Jules Vasquez

"The fundamental allegation by a member of the public is that the police failed to act responsibly, they fail to act competently and they failed to protect a child who had allegedly been the victim of a very gross act of molestation."

Sr. Supt Chester Williams - Commander, Eastern Division Southside

"Jules, I must say very strong words used by you in describing the response of the police. But I will tell you that each story has 3 sides. It has your side, my side and the truth. I will not want to venture into no back and forth with anybody who may have any information or allegation against the police."

Jules Vasquez

"Did the responding officers act; suitably, act sufficiently to protect this child and to also try to take a perpetrator out of circulation?"

Sr. Supt Chester Williams - Commander, Eastern Division Southside

"Whilst yes, the police has a duty to protect any person, a child or a citizen per say; the primary person who has the responsibility to protect that child and ensure the best interest of the child is protected is the parent of the child. Based on what I was briefed by my officers is that they were told certain things by the parent of the child; and based on what they were told by the parent, the police acted and I have not seen any misconduct on the part of the police officers who had dealt with the situation in the first instance."

"Like you rightly said the allegation, if it is true, is a very serious one and I will tell you that the police will not sit idle by and see that being swept under the rug; that will not happen if the allegations are true. Hence the reason why there must be an investigative process and I have directed my investigators along with the person in charge of domestic violence unit; they have now teamed up with human development officers in the area canvasing to see if we could find any children or child who may have been victim of this alleged child molester. We have interviewed one person, one child; that child has given us certain information which again, we are still probing into that allegation to ensure that there is credibility to the allegation, one. Because at the end of the day, due to the nature of the offence; we want to ensure that when we move that we have sufficient to be able to arrest and charge somebody. So the investigation is still in its infancy stage and as soon as we have obtained the level of evidence that we think we need to be able to affect an arrest; then we'll inform the media as to the progress of that investigation."

"We do not want to detain somebody now and investigate whilst the person is in custody; because at the end of 48 hours, if we have not obtained the level of evidence we need to be able to affect an arrest, we would have to release him. So to ensure that we are on the right track, we're investigating around him, we are monitoring him and the airport authority will be notified to ensure that he does not leave the country; in the event that he may want to leave the country and try to escape. Whatever repercussions that may result from this allegation; so we continue to investigate the matter and confident that between tomorrow or by the end of this week, we would have reached where we want to go to determine whether or not we need to arrest and charge somebody."

Reporter

"Has a medical examination been performed on the child?"

Sr. Supt Chester Williams - Commander, Eastern Division Southside

"I cannot say at this time; the person in charge of domestic violence unit was directed to do certain things and those things required a process. And therefore I am allowing the process to take its course."

"And I will tell you that if it is confirmed that the child was indeed molested and the parents of the child do not wish to proceed to court with any court action; then we will request the social services to take the matter upon themselves, because the law makes provisions that a social officer can a complainant. We will ask the social services to take up the matter and be the complainant on behalf of the child to protect the child of interest in the matter. And again, it goes back to where parents for some reason or the other has been abused or whatever and decided that they do not want to do anything. So what we'll be doing, we'll ask social services or human development office to take the matter upon themselves be the complainant in the matter; as long as we can get the relevant information that we need from the child, verifying that indeed the child was molested."

Jules Vasquez

"But arguably, we hadn't brought this out on the media; it would have just gone unattended."

Sr. Supt Chester Williams - Commander, Eastern Division Southside

"And again Jules, I must say that you were the one that brought it to my attention yesterday. And again, that just goes to show the importance of our democracy. The media does have a role to place in society you know? This is an example of the media. Jules, Jules, Jules no, I am commending you."

Jules Vasquez

"I want unno do unno job."

Sr. Supt Chester Williams - Commander, Eastern Division Southside

"Not everything that happens out there we will know, that is why it is important for the media to play their role. And I must say that I am very grateful that you, a responsible member of the media could have brought to my attention and based on that I gave certain directive to ensure that we go back and look into the matter to ensure the proper thing is done."

Jules Vasquez

"Yes but I brought it to your attention because I was appalled that this happened, the man wasn't arrested; I understood no complaint but that nothing would be done. But what I am saying is that level of outrage or that feeling of compassion for the abuse children would not strike in the heart of your officers who responded and just said, no complaint, no crime, next."

Sr. Supt Chester Williams - Commander, Eastern Division Southside

"You cannot say that Jules. Like I said, the police work on information. If they were unable to obtain the relevant information from the child due to the parent of the child not wanting to cooperate; then what could the police do?"

Reporter

"Sir it appears to me that you are taking the route of shielding your officers because what is happening now could have been the route taken then; bringing in human services to cooperate and force the parents and the police to conduct a proper investigation from then."

Sr. Supt Chester Williams - Commander, Eastern Division Southside

"Human services have been in the picture from the inception. And I will tell you; I am not in the habit of shielding my officers. If my officers are wrong, I will out rightly say that they are wrong."

"And I am saying that based on what I have been told from the inception, I have not seen any misconduct on the part of the police officers in this particular investigation."

Reporter

"As it related to having come out in the media and probably alerting the alleged perpetrator in terms of ensuring that this person will still there; apart from informing the airport and the different borders and ensuring he doesn't run. Is the police taking any precautions in that regard?"

Sr. Supt Chester Williams - Commander, Eastern Division Southside

"Yes we are monitoring the person. I do not want to go into full details as to what we are doing."

Reporter

"There's another allegation element in terms of other youths actually participating; at least that's the allegation. Have you found that to be true or is there any truth to it?"

Sr. Supt Chester Williams - Commander, Eastern Division Southside

"We're also looking for those youths and I will tell you that; again, we have met and interviewed a number of those youths and they have all denied the allegations. But we are still looking into it."

Our reports this evening say that the alleged predator is presently moving out of the area. His home was burglarized on Saturday night when he was taken into custody. Again, we cannot publish his picture or his name at this point because he has not been charged in Belize – though he is a convicted sex offender in the USA. We note that his sex offender record says he was convicted of "oral copulation with a minor under 14 years of age or by force or fear."

As you just heard, police are trying to gather complaints against him – and searching out victims in the neighborhood. So far, Williams told us they have only found one child who's given them information – while others who were observed in the house, deny it. Indeed their denials may be legitimate, but there is also the stigma associated with this kind of abuse, and a deeper issue of economics: some needy parents may turn their eyes away from such sexual exploitation because the child may be earning for the household, or bringing home food. It's an ugly reality of economic desperation – and the area resident we spoke to said that desperation has driven many boys into this home:..

Voice of: Neighbor

"All that I notice, I always see a lot of kids in the area; especially young boys. I see up to at least 30 young boys over a period of time and some of them do sleep there. I have no knowledge about who the man is and what about him. At no time do I ever question why the kids are there; especially they have a main 2 that are always over there; a main 2 guys that are always over there, within the age of 12 and 15. So at the time I don't know if they were his kids or whatever and you know where there are kids there will be other kids. So that is what I believed was happening but not knowing he was an international child molester."

Police continue to canvass the area with social workers.