LAVERGNE, TN (WSMV) -
A state employee charged with sexually abusing a young child has resigned.
Last month, James Reyes was accused of soliciting a 5-year-old to perform sex acts, but he stayed on the job as a director at the state procurement office.
His bosses there didn't know about the charges until Channel 4 News told them.
"They are the most emotionally draining cases that investigators and detectives across the state, the country, nationwide - that we deal with," said detective John Eubank with the La Vergne Police Department.
Eubank is talking about child sex abuse. In one of his latest cases, investigators received a call from concerned parents who said they believed a close family friend sexually abused their 5-year-old.
Investigators then charged Reyes with soliciting the child to commit sexual acts upon him, showing the child a pornographic image and performing sexual acts in front of the child.
"There was not an outright denial, per se. There were some minimizations and some smaller denials, but he basically, at the end of the interview, referred me to his lawyer," said Eubank.
Reyes referred Channel 4 to his lawyer, as well, who had no comment.
When Channel 4 called the state to find out if Reyes was still on the job, they had no idea any of this had even happened.
Then, two days after the Channel 4 story, Reyes was placed on administrative leave.
He has now tendered his resignation to the state, effective Aug. 1.
It turns out, there is no universal policy requiring state employees to report criminal charges.
Some departments have their own individual policies, but when Channel 4 called the department of general services to find out if they had a policy, their response was, "We don't know."
As for police, they also aren't required to notify employers unless they think children are at risk.
In this case, while they may not be concerned about the adults Reyes works with, police are concerned there could be more child victims out there.
"In my experience, there's always others that go unreported. So if there is anyone that knows Mr. Reyes or has had any contact with him inappropriately, they could call us at the La Vergne Police Department and certainly we will take a look at it," said Eubank.
La Vergne police said they searched Reyes' home and confiscated his computer after they found some alarming images on it.
Investigators previously said they anticipated filing more charges.
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