GREEN, Ohio (26 July 2007) -- Investigators seized a computer from Green Local Schools on Thursday and are looking for any possible abuse victims in the wake of a school worker's arrest in a Florida sex sting. Meanwhile, Jeff Doland's neighbors are struggling to understand how the quiet stepfather of two stands accused of seeking to drown young girls into unconsciousness as part of a bizarre sexual fetish. "I never would've guessed he would've been capable of something like that," said Eileen O'Neill, a neighbor for about six years and school system employee for 17 years. "His whole life is gone now. Is it worth it for some deviant thoughts? Why would he jeopardize his home, his family, his career, everything he has - his entire life?" Doland was arrested Wednesday at the Miami International Airport during an investigation by the Florida Attorney General's Child Predator CyberCrime Unit. He's accused of paying an undercover decoy $550 in hopes of being able to "dunk" the woman's two young girls under water until they lost consciousness, what Florida authorities billed as a unique case of "sado-masochistic child abuse." Investigators say Doland had arranged the meeting after months of online chats with a supposed mother of two. The person was really an undercover U.S. Secret Service agent. And the two intended targets, age 9 and 12, never existed. Dolan is charged with the selling or buying of minors and promoting sexual performance of a child. He's also accused of sending online images of child torture as examples of what he hoped to do. Secret Service agents from the Akron bureau office and Summit County sheriff's deputies carried items from Doland's house at 4230 Sunnyview Dr. in Green on Wednesday. AT WORK New Green Local Schools Superintendent Wade Lucas said Doland had worked for the school system as a technology coordinator for 6 1/2 years until April, when the job was outsourced to the Epiphany company, which hired Doland as a consultant. "He went to work for them, but basically, he was doing what he did before: he was a consultant instead of a full-time employee of Green schools," Lucas said. The company has since suspended Doland without pay, he said. The school system is conducting its own investigation. "We're also tracking internal e-mails ourselves and really haven't come up with anything earth-shattering," Lucas said. "In regard to system access, everything pretty well flowed through him - with regard to e-mails, pretty well anything that's on the system." That access has since been permanently removed, he said. On Thursday morning Summit County sheriff's deputies seized Doland's school computer and 13 boxes of materials that included "files, flash drives, CDs and everything that was in his office," Lucas said. Sgt. Robert Saraceno said his agency is investigating to see if there may be local victims. Anyone with information can call (330) 643-2131 or 1 (800) 932-3695. AT HOME No one answered the door at Doland's home Thursday afternoon. | | According to police, school worker Jeff Doland wanted to drown young girls as part of a bizarre sexual fetish. Doland's red Toyota Tacoma sat in the driveway. "He told (his wife) he was going scuba diving in Florida, and he had all his scuba diving equipment in there," said Heidi Coup, who lives two houses away. "He always seemed pretty nice. But who knows the secrets that go in people's minds?" Another neighbor, Mary Seman, said she didn't know the family well, but she is concerned. "Anytime a thing like that happens, it's scary. You become a little bit more aware; you pull your kids back a little," she said. O'Neill, a resident of the neighborhood for 28 years, said Doland had only lived in the neighborhood about six years. Still, she said, she has known Doland much longer through her job as a teacher's assistant at the middle school. "He did troubleshooting and helped bring technology into the school and maintain things," she said. At home, she said, "The neighbors that did know him, he would come out and talk to them. He was just kind of normal. So this just doesn't make any sense to me. Him being in the schools, that's kind of creepy." School officials, too, are in shock, Lucas said. "We've gone through the entire spectrum of emotions: shock , frustration, anger disgust... I think it's just such a sensational situation. It takes people aback and makes you shake your head," he said. "We can't do anything about what has happened. All we can do is look forward and make sure we take care of things." SOURCE - CantonRepSCUBA FORUMDISCUSS THIS TOPIC - Dive in and have your say at Scuba Forum |
