Sex Offenders under the Golden Arches

[Woodmonkey]

McDonald's Misses Sex Offender's Troubled History

An exclusive NewsChannel 5 investigation has uncovered new information about a convicted sex offender. He worked at a local McDonald's. And what we've now learned raises even more questions about what he was doing inside a restaurant that targets kids.

By all standards, Nicholas Aloyo has been a deeply troubled person for years.

Five years ago, he was convicted for soliciting sex from a minor.

Most recently, he was re-arrested for possession of child pornography.

"They allowed him to play with these children," says Scott Smyers, a former McDonald's supervisor and himself a sex offender.

He says that inside the McDonald's on Highway 96 in Franklin, there was no hesitation about letting Aloyo interact with children.

"They would allow Nicholas to be the one out in the lobbying with the kids, set up the little bowling alley for the kids, sing on karaoke with the kids," he recalls.

That despite the fact that Aloyo was listed right on Tennessee's sex offender registry for anyone to see.

"If they had done even a simple name check in the state of Tennessee through your TBI, they would have been able to uncover that he had a criminal history," says background check advocate Jody Gorran.

In fact, if managers at the McDonald's had driven two miles to the courthouse and pulled Aloyo's file, they would have found a report that describes a troubled history of misconduct with children as young as 10.

The report also says that, prior to his conviction, Aloyo had been fired from three other jobs for "inappropriate sexual comments" to employees and customers.

That's why he was rated a "high risk" and ordered not to accept employment in contact with minors.

"What is McDonald's thinking? What are they doing?" Gorran asks.

Smyers says, "They knew Nicholas Aloyo was a sex offender when they hired him."

As for the local McDonald's owner, all he will say is that Aloyo never should have been hired.

But, he hasn't said what he'll do to ensure that such high-risk offenders don't end up working inside Ronald's restaurants again.

The Source

Related Stories

Congress Hears of Sex Offenders Under Golden Arches

McDonald's Manager Molests Kids, Gets Promoted

Advocate Calls for Boycott, Sex Offender Says McDonald's Knew

[Scrappy]

Umm, the manager or assistant manager knew he was a registered sex offender with regard to minors? Since he didn't put that on his application, I hope you're not wanting me to boycott MickyD's not that I like MCD anyway. Woohoo, rise BK rise, ....

No you stay the hell out of my bed, and wipe that stupid grin off your face. That king should be off with his head. Sick advertising.

[Scrappy]

"It was my first job," says Adam Szczesny.

"I was really excited about it. I felt like an adult because adults go to work."

Adam was just 15 when he went to work under the golden arches.

"We were going to make money during the summer," says Damian Serafin, who was also 15.

But they tell NewsChannel 5's chief investigative reporter Phil Williams that it wasn't the all-American teen "first job" experience touted by McDonald's in its commercials.

"It wasn't the best experience. In fact, it was the worst experience."

The boys say, at their first job, they were molested.

"I wanted to have a first job where I could look back on it and actually be able to tell people what my first job was like," Adam says. "Now I just can't do that."

Abbie Sutherlin's son, Mark, was also 15 -- and working at the same McDonald's in Hillsborough, New Jersey -- when one day he broke the news.

"He told us that he had been molested by his boss," Sutherlin recalls.

"You think your child is safe. You think he's OK. And then you find out, boy were you wrong."

Their boss was 20-year-old assistant manger Joshua Diaz.

The families' lawyer says Diaz was more aggressive with some kids than others.

"In some instances, Mr. Diaz would touch their legs, pat them on their rear end," the lawyer, Bill Courtney, says.

"In other instances, he would corner them in a certain room at McDonald's and kiss them or touch them."

Damian says, "It wasn't easy telling anybody about this."

He was the first to go to police about Diaz - something that the other boys at the McDonald's had been afraid to do.

"I felt that he could have had me kicked out of there within a second if I opened my mouth," Adam recalls.

"That being my first job, I was really scared to lose it."

Diaz was arrested, and three years ago a jury convicted him of aggravated criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child.

The judge sentenced him to 90 days in jail, saying Diaz "never understood the seriousness" of what he did. (Read the judge's order)

"It just changed my whole outlook," Adam adds.

But what Diaz did to the kids wasn't enough to end his McDonald's career.

"He was terminated from the corporate owned McDonald's, but he was hired by a franchisee -- I believe it was in six days," Courtney says.

"Six days?" Phil Williams asks.

"Six days -- he was back under the golden arches."

In fact, we found the convicted sex offender running a McDonald's franchise, less than 10 miles away from the restaurant where he had molested the boys.

"He shouldn't have a job anywhere near kids right now," Adam says.

Abbie Sutherlin asks, "How do they allow this to continue? How do they stand behind somebody who's convicted of this crime?"

Even though McDonald's corporate fired Diaz, they then turned around and accepted him here into their management training program at the corporate headquarters.

They say they did that because that's who the local franchisee wanted.

"They've taken the position that they don't have any say over who their franchisees hire," Courtney explains.

It's the same position they've adopted about all the child molesters and other sex offenders that our investigation discovered working at other McDonald's franchises.

"At the end of the day, he's still working for McDonald's," Damian says.

Sutherlin argues, "They control how big the hamburger is, how much it weighs, the size of the bun. They can't control who they employ?"

But outside corporate offices near Chicago, we were suddenly confronted by McDonald's security, who had apparently decided that we were the real security risk.

"I'm curious," Phil Williams tells the security personnel who confronted him.

"Everyone's so concerned about security at the headquarters, what about about child molesters in the restaurants?"

Adam says, "It's a really horrific experience of a first job."

These victims say if McDonald's is going to use ads like the "My First Job" commercial to attract kids to work under the golden arches, it has a responsibility to ensure that they won't be working with sex offenders who have a history of abusing children.

"Nobody should have to experience what my son did," Sutherlin says.

"That it happened to my son makes me angry. That it continues makes me so incredibly sad and worried for every other child."

To add insult to injury, when Diaz was sentenced, he had a letter of support from the owner of the McDonald's franchise that hired him. It praised him as being a trustworthy employee. (Read the letter)

And this incident may not be so isolated.

The federal government has sued McDonald's franchisees in at least three states for not doing enough to protect young teen employees.

WTH, since when did 15 year olds automatically become pus.. wimps. This is just plain stupid. original source from monk. Sorry katie, I'm non plussed by actions of offensive adults and most offended that the parents did not bring their kids up right. I'll go look at some other sources

[Woodmonkey]

Originally Posted by Scrappy

WTH, since when did 15 year olds automatically become pus.. wimps. This is just plain stupid. original source from monk. Sorry katie, I'm non plussed by actions of offensive adults and most offended that the parents did not bring their kids up right. I'll go look at some other sources

Appreciate that, Tim.

The thing that did bother me though is that MickyD's goes after families with young kids. There should be a company policy mandating background checks (this includes similiar companies) and not hiring those who have this background. Sure it makes it tough on child molesters, but who cares?

[conlor]

McDonald's is for unskilled people and they just don't ask questions. When I was a kid, I'd walk into a restaurant and have a job right then. (I hated working in restaurants!) They figure it doesn't take an MBA to wait tables or flip burgers and if someone is applying, they'll take them. If they don't flip the burgers right, there'll be someone else walking in soon looking for a job. They don't need to ask a lot of questions, normally.

It's too bad that we have such creeps around that they can't be trusted to work around kids.

[Scrappy]

Yea, who cares about molesters. That would be a good marketing thing for corps to advertise we do background checks on all our employees so your kid won't get molested here.

LOL Conlor, not at you, just with you, you can't even trust the hot student teachers these days.