MERCED, Calif. (KFSN) -- Police have arrested a security guard accused of molesting at least three children in Merced and Madera, and now they're looking for other possible victims.
Detectives say the victims in this case range from 4 to 8 years old. The suspect is 31-year-old Jesse James. He's been working as a security guard for an apartment complex in North Merced.
Investigators do not want to give the name of the apartment complex where James worked until his arrest to protect the privacy of the victims. But they say he used key words that may help parents realize if he also targeted their children.
Merced police say they started investigating James earlier this month after a mother learned that he sexually abused her now 8-year-old son in 2011.
"Mom was receiving phone calls from the individual and telling her that he would like to perform what he called a therapy upon her boy, and so he mentioned the therapy included sex acts," said Det. Joseph Henderson of the Merced Police Department.
Henderson says the victim's family knows James, who works as a security guard at the North Merced apartment complex but lives in Madera.
"Upon investigation of this case, we went forward and then located another victim in Madera, a 4-year-old, and Madera PD is actively investigating that case right now," said Henderson.
Authorities believe there is a third victim in Merced, but he's too young to interview. Investigators say James insists he's helping the children by releasing endorphins in their body and that his so-called therapy improves their behavior. Now authorities say they hope those twisted statements will serve as a clue for other families.
"So if any parents have actually heard or think they may have heard their children speak in terms such as therapy or talk about a security guard, any allegations that could have been made that maybe just weren't passed on, to please give us a call and we will investigate any and every call that we take here at the Merced Police Department," said Henderson.
Police say James has no prior criminal history and that the apartment complex is under new management that has fully cooperated with the investigation.
James is now booked into the Merced County Jail on child molestation charges.