CARLSBAD, Calif. (KGTV)--There are more victims.
That's the message Carlsbad police are desperately trying to get out to the public, hoping to locate all of the children who may have been sexually abused by a babysitter and her boyfriend but now admitting they made a mistake when getting the word out.
Twenty two-year-old Brittney Lyon was arrested last July, along with her boyfriend Samuel Cabrera, on eight counts of lewd and lascivious acts on two seven-year-old children from Oceanside and Escondido for whom she provided care.
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Lyon is accused of taking the two girls she babysitted on multiple occasions to Cabrera's house where she then videotaped him molesting the children.
Police are now urging parents who used the child care provider service websites care.com, sitter.com, and sittercity.com to look at the newly released photos of Lyon to determine whether they hired her as a sitter.
Police also said victims could be in regions outside of San Diego including San Bernardino, Riverside and Los Angeles.
Team 10 discovered last year that Lyon was an instructional aide at San Elijo Elementary School in San Marcos Unified School District, in addition to being employed at the YMCA of Oceanside.
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"We are equally disturbed and outraged that adults would victimize children in this way," said Police Chief Neil Gallucci. "The safety and welfare of children are our top priority and we are committed to presenting a comprehensive case to the District Attorney's office."
Families who have additional information are urged to call the police hotline at 760-931-2293.
Police say Lyon advertised her babysitting services under different names. The name and picture of one Lyon's aliases, Lauren Allen, was an innocent woman who called 10news to says she was horrified to find out Lyon used her picture.
“She may have impersonated other people while committing her offenses with Samuel Cabrera and possibly she may have used Lauren Allen's name,” said Carlsbad Police Captain Mickey Williams.
After 10News alerted police about Allen's phone call, they issued a public apology.
“The releasing of the photograph of Lauren Allen was a mistake by our department, we have apologized Lauren Allen who in no way deserves to be seen under the horrific light of these suspects,” said Williams.
The City of Carlsbad has since rescinded that information and apologized for the error, releasing the following statement:
"We would like to formally apologize to Lauren Allen, her family and friends. In a media release today we listed Lauren’s name and photo as the alias used by the suspect, Brittney Lyon. We want to state unequivocally that Lauren Allen herself is in no way a suspect in this case. We are sorry to cause concern or to associate Lauren’s name with this type of criminal behavior. We made a mistake by not thoroughly vetting the investigative information before we released it to the public. We removed the photos. We personally reached out to Lauren to apologize and are conducting an internal investigation to ensure this does not happen again."
10News spoke to the mother of one of Lyon and Cabrera's alleged victims by phone, she says she didn't use a child care website to find Lyon, she was a long-time family friend, who she now calls “sickening.”
Sandy Coronilla is a KGTV digital producer. Follow her @10NewsSandy
