A former DeKalb County school custodian was arrested Tuesday for allegedly molesting two Lithonia Middle School girls.
Channel 2 Action News reported that Rodney Winston worked as a custodian at the school, but the alleged incidents happened off school property at the girls’ homes in July.
DeKalb jail records show that Winston, 49, of Lithonia, was arrested Tuesday afternoon and charged with felony child molestation and misdemeanor sexual battery.
Lithonia police Capt. Xavier Todd told Channel 2 that Winston knew the families of the 11- and 13-year-old girls, and approached the 11-year-old as she slept.
“She was awakened by him touching her bra and buttocks area and at that time, she discovered he was trying to put money in her bra,” Todd told the station.
The older girl reported a similar incident at her family’s home, according to Channel 2.
Winston is no longer employed by DeKalb schools, a district spokesperson said.
According to Channel 2, the alleged incidents aren’t the first such accusations against Winston.
Students made complaints against Winston in 2011 and in 2013 for allegedly inappropriate behavior at the school. The school suspended Winston, but he wasn’t criminally charged.
“It concerns me as a chief that this is going on in the school system,” Lithonia police Chief Roosevelt Smith told Channel 2, adding that school officials should have notified his agency of the earlier allegations.
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