Davis police said Monday they’ve opened as many as a half-dozen sexual assault cases stemming from its investigation of the EMQ FamiliesFirst group home on Fifth Street.

So far, there have been three arrests — those of 13- and 14-year-old boys accused of forcibly raping an 11-year-old girl at Playfields Park on May 31, as well as a 17-year-old boy suspected in the May 16 sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl at a home in the 1900 block of Lehigh Drive.

Both alleged victims were FamiliesFirst residents who had walked away from the group home without permission, as were the two younger suspects, Assistant Police Chief Darren Pytel said. The 17-year-old, a Davis resident, had no connection to the facility, contrary to initial police reports.

Upon her return to the facility on June 3, the 11-year-old girl reported being assaulted, “which led to a lot more incidents that were alleged,” Pytel said. As a result of those allegations, police conducted interviews with 51 of the home’s 53 residents. Ten of them eventually were taken into protective custody.

“We wanted to determine who knew what, and whether we needed to take steps to ensure the safety of the minors at the facility, so we made the decision to interview all of them,” Pytel said. He added that most had no knowledge of the alleged criminal activity “and were going through the program as we would like them to.”

All three suspects remain lodged at the Yolo County Juvenile Hall, where the 17-year-old already was in custody on outstanding warrants at the time of his arrest in the rape case on Friday.

Pytel would not disclose Monday whether that teen lived at the Lehigh Drive home where the alleged rape occurred, or whether there would be additional arrests in the sexual assault cases.

He said police reports regarding both incidents are expected to be forwarded this week to the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office, which will then determine what, if any, criminal charges will be filed.

FamiliesFirst president and CEO Darrell Evora visited the East Davis campus on Saturday to meet with staff and members of the media, announcing an increase in staffing and security in response to the numerous calls for police service the facility has generated this year.

Davis police say they’ve been dispatched to handle FamiliesFirst-related problems more than 500 times since Jan. 1, with more than 100 of those calls involving youths who left the campus without permission.

The state Department of Social Services, meanwhile, has received eight complaints about the group home over the past two years, sustaining allegations of improper and unnecessary use of restraints, rude or demeaning behavior by staff and multiple reports of youths going missing from the campus.

Evora said he plans to bring in an independent expert to inspect the facility and review its programs and practices, a process he said he intends to begin this week.

“The goal of all of this is simply to ensure the kids are safe,” Evora told The Enterprise on Saturday.

— Reach Lauren Keene at [email protected] or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter @laurenkeene

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