See Update No. 2 at the end of this post about the district attorney declining to file charges.
See Update No. 1 clarifying the suspect's job at Irvine Valley College.
ORIGINAL POST, OCT. 16: Went to Detroit, and the Irvine Valley College parking lot broke out.
Yesterday, it was a report about an alleged, previously known-to-be creeper arrested for a sexual assault in the community college lot. Today, the Irvine Police Department accused IVC music teacher accompanist Jason Richard Buchea of leaving his 11-month-old daughter strapped into a car seat on the lot pavement and then reporting her missing.
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See also:
Alireza Hashemi, IVC Student, Held in Sexual Assault of 18 y.o. Woman
Saddleback High Special-Ed Assistant Pleads Guilty to Child Abuse
Campuses Remember Mikel Anthony Williams and Carlos Salas, Victims of Violent Deaths
Irvine Police were called by campus police just after 1 p.m. Monday about the baby who passersby found in the lot with no vehicle or adult nearby, according to a statement from Irvine Police Lt. Bill Whalen.
Though the girl appeared to be healthy, she was taken by Orange County Fire Authority paramedics to Hoag Hospital Irvine for evaluation, states Whalen, adding the 11-month-old was ultimately taken into custody by Orange County Child Protective Services.
Meanwhile, Irvine Police detectives launched an investigation that revealed Buchea had called the Costa Mesa Police Department to report his daughter missing. After talking to him and the girl's mother, an IVC student, at Buchea's Costa Mesa home, he was arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment and later booked into Orange County Jail. The mother was not arrested.
Buchea's Facebook page shows him strumming an instrument.
UPDATE NO. 1, OCT. 16, 1:57 P.M.: Irvine Valley College has alerted the media and the Irvine Police Department to clarify Buchea, 33, is not a teacher on campus.
He is a “short term temporary employee,” according to spokeswoman Diane Oaks.
Asked what that means, Oaks replied, “For clarity, Mr. Buchea is a part-time accompanist. . . . He is not a teacher.”
Various websites mentioning campus musical productions note Buchea accompanied on drums.
UPDATE NO. 2, OCT. 18, 9:48 A.M.: The Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA) has reportedly declined to file charges against Buchea.
Farrah Emami, the OCDA spokeswoman, reportedly told the Orange County Register that Buchea seems to have left his toddler daughter behind at IVC accidentally and criminal intent could therefore not be proven in court.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.