Rodney Chism + Enabling Mother = Repeat Sex Offender

The son of a Shreveport day care owner is accused of sex crimes involving two youths. And she is charged with perjury.

Their arrests this week are the latest in an investigation into allegations of sexual assaults at Smart Start Learning Center Express.

Rodney Chism, 45, was booked Tuesday on two counts of molestation of a juvenile, said Lea Hall, of the Caddo district attorney's office.

And his mother, Katherine Robbins, is accused of lying when questioned before a grand jury.

The warrant also charges Chism with one count each of aggravated rape, aggravated incest and aggravated oral sexual battery, according to the arrest report.

"I can tell you that both of the children from those counts had had contacts with the day care," Hall said. "One of them was a child that was a customer and one was a family member."

Chism, a registered sex offender who pleaded guilty in 1999 to carnal knowledge of a juvenile, and Robbins are named in secret indictments a Caddo grand jury returned in November.

Their arrests are the third and fourth in the case spawned by the indictment of Robbins' son Darrell Chism, 36, in July on charges that he raped young family members. Those charges are unrelated to Smart Start.

On Sept. 17, the state pulled the license for the facility on Hearne Avenue because Robbins failed to perform background checks on all of her employees, among other things, authorities say. And the list of children she provided did not match the children who actually attended the facility.

And Robbins' niece Tatanisha Kochinskey, 36, has been charge with tampering with evidence.

After the indictment, the state Social Services Department received an anonymous call alleging sexual abuse at the day care. That's when Shreveport police and the Caddo district attorney's office got involved. Both have since received numerous calls from parents whose children attended Smart Start.

The molestations began 14 years ago and occurred as recently as the arrest several months ago, authorities said.

It's unknown whether the Chism brothers worked at the day care, but they did frequent the facility.

"25% of all sex offenders re-offend within 15 years"

.........Sarah Tofte