Convicted Arizona sex offender accused of assaulting elementary student
Sex offender accused in school assault days after release
A convicted child sex offender is now accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl inside a Phoenix elementary school last week, prompting state legislators to call the incident a system failure. FOX 10's Kenzie Beach has the latest.
PHOENIX - A convicted child sex offender is now accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl inside a Phoenix elementary school last week, prompting state legislators to call the incident a system failure.
What we know:
Abel Gblah, a convicted child sex offender, is accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl inside Orangewood Elementary School on Nov. 19.
Gblah, 25, reportedly entered the school through an unlocked door, lured the girl into an empty classroom by pretending to be a doctor who needed to perform exams, and then assaulted her, police said.
The assault comes just 10 days after Gblah was released from jail, despite having accumulated more than 40 probation violations in the last three years.
Gblah's criminal history includes a 2021 conviction for sexually assaulting his 16-year-old coworker with autism. Court documents show Gblah violated probation repeatedly in that case, including by continuing to contact the victim and showing up at her home.
What they're saying:
Speaking at the Capitol Monday, Arizona State Sen. Janae Shamp, R-Surprise, stood alongside sexual abuse survivors and advocates to denounce the system that allowed Gblah to be paroled.
"No more passive supervision for these predators," Shamp said. "No more guessing games, no more loopholes for sexual deviants ... When a child pays the price, excuses are not acceptable."
Shamp is calling for tighter restrictions on probation and automatic consequences for repeat probation violations.
Kayleigh Kozak, a victim rights advocate, spoke about the cost of these failures.
"An innocent 10-year-old girl paid the price. She went to school that morning, and her parents got a devastating phone call. And she will forever be impacted by what has happened to her."
The incident has left parents worried about campus safety. "How did this man just walk onto the campus?" one parent asked.
Orangewood Elementary School said it's reviewing all safety protocols and is applying for a safety grant to secure a dedicated school resource officer.
AZ school district under scrutiny after sex assault
Parents are expressing their concerns and worries after a convicted sex offender allegedly made his way onto a school in Phoenix. The man is accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl on campus. FOX 10's Kenzie Beach reports.
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell released a statement saying, in full, "Since the arrest of Abel Gblah for his actions at Orangewood Elementary School last week, I have been looking into his 2021 case. I have concerns about how the case was handled based on my own philosophy. Well before last week, when I took office in 2022, I realized that MCAO had strayed from my philosophy on prosecuting sex crimes. I took immediate action at that time including changing leadership in sex crimes to more closely align with my expectations for how we should prosecute these types of cases. But the work is ongoing. For years, I have been raising concerns that probation was not adequately monitoring offenders and putting our community at risk. I am looking forward to working with the state legislature to find solutions to better protect our children and communities from sex offenders."