High School Janitor Arrested for Sexual Misconduct

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Story Published: Jan 26, 2009 at 7:27 PM PDT

By Molly Kelleher

HERMISTON - Hermiston School District is working with police on another sex investigation.

23 year old Josh McKamey is in Umatilla County Jail facing charges of sexual misconduct with a minor.

McKamey is a janitor at Hermiston High. Police say none of the offenses took place on campus, but it's not clear if the alleged victim is a student in a Hermiston school. Police only said the girl is underage.

"We go through pre-employment drug tests, a 12 step hiring process, background check, so we feel confident in our screening process," said Assistant Superintendent Wade Smith.

Despite the precautions, this is the second time a school staffer has faced these kinds of allegations.

Last Spring a teacher's aid, also 23 years old, was arrested and charged with rape. In December, she pleaded guilty and got three years probation.

"We are going to talk with the board to see if there are other steps we can take into account," said Smith.

Like better age appropriate staff placements with in the district. Smith says the problem might be about age, hiring people too close to the age of students.

But they can't discriminate hiring based on age, so they are going to look at not placing young staffers at the high school.

The case is still under investigation and in the mean time, the janitor is on leave.

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